Lisa's Story
Having lined up in the green and gold as a 19-year-old at the Athens 2004 Games, Lisa de Vanna was the only athlete to return from those Games to compete at Rio 2016 where she co-captained the side alongside Clare Polkinghorne.
The Australian women's football team had the honour of being the first Aussies to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games when they took on Canada two days before the Opening Ceremony in Sao Paolo.
Unfortunately it wasn’t the start the side wanted after they went down a goal in the opening minute and eventually lost 2-0.
The Aussies came out firing in their second match against Germany taking a two goal lead before the Germans struck late in both halves to see the match end in a 2-2 draw.
Needing a win in their final match to progress, the Aussies delivered that and more as they thrashed Zimbabwe 6-1 to set up a quarter-final clash with hosts Brazil.
After a tense 120 minutes of football, neither side could find the back of the net and the match went to penalties. Australia looked to have the upper hand when Brazil missed the first penalty but in front of 60,000 locals the home side claimed the shootout 7-6 to progress through to the final four.
