Paris: Defending champions New Zealand will play the United States in the semi-finals of the Olympic sevens, but France's hopes of a rugby double gold were dashed after defeat by Canada at the Stade de France on Monday.
Another partisan, the nearly sold-out crowd of 66,000 gathered at the Stade de France primarily to watch the French team in their quest to emulate Antoine Dupont and the men's team in the gold contenders.
But there was disappointment as the Canadians won 19-14 to advance to the semi-finals against Australia.
The Aussies outscored Ireland 40-7 in their quarter, Maddison Levy's hat-trick marked a women's Olympic record 11 tries and broke Portia Woodman-Wycliffe's previous best of 10 from Rio 2016. gave
Piper Logan opened the scoring for Canada against France, breaking away from a fine play to set up Chloe Daniels.
But the home side, roared on by a furious crowd, leveled at the half-time whistle, Ian Jason sprinting away for a try.
Yulin Yingo converted it and scored her try to take the lead after a double tackle from the brilliant Lily Dezoi.
But Logan tried a second time, just as captain Olivia converted the tries to make it 14 apiece with three minutes to play.
When Daniels knocked down an unprotected blind for Canada's third try, he dashed the French's hopes.
New Zealand, gold medalists at the 2021 Covid-delayed Tokyo Games, were 55-5 comprehensive winners over China and will play the United States, who beat Britain 17-7.
They got on the scoreboard within 30 seconds, veteran Sara Hirini finishing off a layup by Teresa Stefano.
But China roared, Yang Fifi pointed down the line. When Hirini was booked for a head tackle, the Chinese gained a numerical advantage as Hu Yu outpaced the stretched defense for the try.
There was no panic from New Zealand and they went on to score 8 tries without reply.
A five-pointer from Jazmine Felix-Hatham, Michaela Blade and world rugby legend Woodman-Wycliffe, in her third and final Olympics, made it 24-5 at halftime.
Blyde crossed for his seventh try of the tournament early in the second period, quickly going through four more from Felix-Hatham, Mahina Paul (2) and Hirini in what turned out to be a march.
New Zealand's trans-Tasman rivals, Rio 2016 winners Australia, got off to a strong start against Ireland.
Levy had a hat trick in the first half and a hat trick in the last game between the two teams, which the Aussies won 19-14 earlier on Monday.
Faith Nathan made it 26-0 in the second half, before Isabella Nasser and Beine Trita added two more Irish consolation tries from Stacey Flood.
Britain took a three-point lead through Ellie Butman, the US responded through Naya Tupper after a strong break from TikTok star Ilona Maher.
In the second half, Maher looked like he might have made it to the United States for the second time, but a superb tackle by Jasmine Joyce killed him.
American runner-up Christy Kerce got the nod early in the second half, followed by Sammy Sullivan to end Britain's medal hopes and send the US into the quarterfinals for the first time.
In the play-off for the lower places, there was a memorable 28-22 victory for Brazil against Fiji, who had won bronze at the Tokyo Games.
Raquel Kochan scored four tries, including an injury-time winner, with a jink and pace from her own line, which turned into a play-off against Japan for ninth place.
