Australia has helped shatter the dreams of 12 athletes more than 24 hours before the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony even begins on Saturday morning (AEST).

Australia’s Rugby Sevens’ team has progressed through to the knockout stages with a perfect three wins from three matches and it came at the expense of Kenya — who are packing their bags while other athletes are preparing for the historic River Seine ceremony that will officially announce the start of the Games.

It will be a bittersweet journey down the Parisian river for Kenya’s men’s rugby sevens team, knowing their entire Olympics campaign was over after just 42 minutes.

The Kenyan team was knocked out after losses to Australia, Argentina and Samoa — becoming the first athletes eliminated from competition in Paris.

After losing to Australia 21-7 on the opening day of competition, Kenya’s fate was sealed with a final 26-0 thumping at the hands of Samoa at the Stade de France athletics stadium.

It was Samoa’s first win in Olympics Rugby Sevens competition.

It is the third time Kenya’s men’s rugby sevens team has been knocked out at the Olympics without progressing beyond the group stage.

While 42 minutes of competition on the world stage is the sort of length swimmers and track sprinters can only dream of, Kenya will have to swallow the history of being one of the few athletes in the modern Olympics to be eliminated before the Opening Ceremony has taken place.

Kenya’s squad of 12 players were only given three matches or six halves (lasting seven-minutes each) to reflect how far the country has come on the World Rugby Sevens Series global tour.

Fortunately Australia’s side had no problems moving through the tricky Group B and will play their quarter-final from 6.30am (AEST) on Friday morning before the medals are decided on Saturday night (AEST).

Despite finishing third in Group B behind Australia and Argentina, Samoa may still progress to the quarter-finals as potentially one of the top two third-ranked teams from the three pools.

Australia sealed top spot with an entertaining 22-14 win over Argentina.

Aussie star Henry Hutchison said after the game: “I thought the boys handled the pressure really well. The Argies scored first, but we stayed composed.

“We just tightened the pressure minute by minute, play by play and we came home with the win.”