PARIS – Canada’s team in Paris was on pace for a record Olympic Games at halftime after a mortifying soccer scandal that began before the eco-flame was even lit in Jardin des Tuileries.
With 15 medals — four gold, four silver, seven bronze — and another medal already guaranteed in men’s boxing, Canada trended to better the 24 medals won three years ago in Tokyo, which was the most at a non-boycotted Summer Games.
Canadian athletes won at least one medal every day in the first eight, which a team had once before in Rio in 2016.
“I’ve been talking so much before the Games about the breadth and depth of this team, that we would be looking for more medals from more athletes across more sports and disciplines and I think that’s exactly what we’re seeing,” Canadian Olympic Committee chief executive officer David Shoemaker on Saturday.
Toronto teenager Summer McIntosh led the gold-medal charge with her third Saturday in the pool.
Her fourth medal in Paris matched teammate Penny Oleksiak’s record for the most by a Canadian at one Olympic Games.
“I’ve got three boys and they can’t stop talking about Summer McIntosh,” Shoemaker said.
Canadian women continued the trend of driving the medal bus as they have at previous Summer Games.
They won, or in the case of mixed doubles tennis had a hand in, 11 medals in the first half.
“Dronegate,” that resulted in soccer head coach Bev Priestman and two other team staff members sent home by the COC, and the women’s team docked six points by FIFA despite appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, was a black eye for a country purporting to espouse fair play.
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The fallout enveloped celebrated previous women’s soccer coach John Herdman and put the women’s Olympic gold in Tokyo under the microscope because of evidence this wasn’t an isolated incident.
Unless there are further revelations of soccer misconduct at the Olympic Games, Shoemaker says the COC is done issuing the discipline in its purview.
“(We) took the ultimate sanction that we can do at the Olympic Games, which is removing three members from a coaching staff and sent them home,” he said.
“We also want to then post-Games make sure we support Canada Soccer, collaborate with Canada Soccer and hopefully compel to a certain extent all those stakeholders in the game of soccer to do what (CEO) Kevin Blue sets out to do with his independent external review so that we can, as he says, best understand what led to this terrible situation that was a huge distraction for the soccer team before they even kicked the first ball.”
The women’s soccer team in France shifted the weight of that narrative somewhat by winning all three matches in the group stage to reach the quarterfinals, despite a points deficit that should have been devastating.
The soccer team bowed out on penalty kicks in a quarterfinal loss to Germany on Saturday in Marseille.
“What they’ve done to unite themselves in the grit and determination they’ve shown to win nine points in the face of the six-point deduction they faced is amazing to me, and really quite an accomplishment,” Shoemaker said.
“Back in Paris, while the other athletes on Team Canada knew and were aware of what was going on in soccer, it was not a huge distraction for them.”
Hits and misses are why people watch the Olympic Games in the billions and Canada had its share over the first eight days.
A multi-medal performance from McIntosh was expected and the 17-year-old delivered with a will and poise beyond her years.
She has a shot at a fifth medal in the medley relay in Sunday’s swim finale, which would tie speedskater Cindy Klassen for the most medals won by a Canadian athlete in a single Olympic Games.
A fencing bronze medal was the first for Canada at an Olympic Games.
A silver medal in women’s rugby sevens included a massive upset of favoured Australia to get to the final.
Christa Deguchi’s gold medal was the highlight for a deep judo team that otherwise missed the podium.
Tokyo’s decathlon champion Damian Warner missed his pole vault three times in Paris to drop from medal position out of contention Saturday.
World champion boxer Tammara Thibeault was ousted in her opening bout for her first loss since Tokyo.
Canadians finished fourth nine times in the first eight days.
“It doesn’t always go the way we want it to on the field, and also as we all know now, off the field of play but we’re doing our very best to make Canadians proud,” Shoemaker said.
Canadians to watch in the back half include hammer thrower Ethan Katzberg on Sunday and reigning champion Andre De Grasse in the 200-metre heats Monday and final Thursday.
The men’s basketball team plays its quarterfinal Tuesday when hammer thrower Camryn Rogers is also in action.
Others on tap include taekwondo athlete Skylar Park, weightlifter Maude Charron, 800-metre runner Marco Arop, sprint canoeist Katie Vincent, wrestler Justina Di Stasio, sprint cyclist Kelsey Mitchell and breaker Phil (Wizard) Kim.
“The look ahead is as bright as the look back,” said Shoemaker.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 3, 2024.
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