PARIS – The Paris Olympics are over. And so is a historic Games for Canada.
Summer McIntosh and Ethan Katzberg carried the Canadian flag into the closing ceremony of the Paris Games on Sunday after headlining Canada’s record-breaking medal haul at the Olympics.
Hundreds of other Canadian athletes poured in minutes after the duo, leading two groups into the 80,000-capacity Stade de France.
McIntosh, the 17-year-old swimmer from Toronto, won four medals in the pool and became Canada’s first triple gold-medallist, while also adding a silver. She set two Olympic records in Paris — in the women’s 200-metre butterfly (2:03.03) and the women’s 200 individual medley (2:06.56).
The 22-year-old Katzberg, of Nanaimo, B.C., claimed Canada’s first gold in men’s hammer throw with the largest margin of victory in the event since Antwerp 1920.
“I think the main thing that’s going to take the longest to sink in is being flag-bearer,” McIntosh said after her historic Games. “It is such an honour and once-in-a-lifetime (experience).”
Canada’s nine gold medals and 27 total medals were both records for the country at a non-boycotted Summer Olympics, surpassing previous highs set in Tokyo three years ago and in the 1992 Barcelona Games.
Canada also finished with seven silver medals and 11 bronze, and was ranked 11th in both number of gold medals and overall total among 84 countries that took home hardware.
Canadian Olympic Committee chief executive officer David Shoemaker said the performances of Canadian athletes helped turn around a turbulent start to the Games, which were initially rocked by a drone spying scandal in women’s soccer.
“I felt that it was a tarnish at the beginning of the Games for us and now I can sit here nearly three weeks later and feel that the athletes on the field of play have done an enormous amount of good to remedy that situation (including) the soccer players themselves,” he said at a press conference at Canada Olympic House.
The final day of competition saw Malindi Elmore of Kelowna, B.C., running a season’s best 2:31:08 in the women’s marathon to finish 35th overall. Elmore, 44, debuted back at the 2004 Athens Games as a track athlete, before converting to a long-distance runner later in her career.
The American women’s basketball team won the final competition of the Games with a 67-66 victory over France in the gold-medal game.
The win helped the U.S. tie China for the most gold medals with 40. The Americans easily won the total medal count with 126, while China came in second with 91.
Meanwhile, Maple Ridge, B.C.’s Maggie Coles-Lyster made it to the women’s omnium final in track cycling, finishing ninth with 101 points.
Defending Olympic champion Kelsey Mitchell, who did not advance to Sunday’s final in the women’s individual sprint, finished last in the race determining fifth through eighth positions.
Five of Canada’s medals came from track and field athletes.
Katzberg and Camryn Rogers of Richmond, B.C., swept the top of the podium in men’s and women’s hammer throw, while Canada’s men’s 4×100-metre team also won gold.
Edmonton’s Marco Arop added silver in the men’s 400, and Alysha Newman of Delaware, Ont., took bronze in women’s pole vault.
“I chalk it up as an awesome display of resilience by our athletes,” said Athletics Canada head coach Glenroy Gilbert, calling the Games a success. “We’ve had athletes fall, we’ve had athletes not advance … we’ve had athletes have mishaps on this journey but it did not impact the team.
“People kept showing up, they kept getting out there and performing.”
The Canadians at the closing ceremony all came dressed in shorts and T-shirts in a dark, galaxy-like pattern with “CAN” written vertically down the back in white letters. The medal winners proudly wore their hardware around their necks.
“We just saw the best of Canada. Over the past two weeks, more than 330 athletes from across the country represented Team Canada at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement.
“They showed everyone that Canada belongs on the world stage — as leaders and champions at the pinnacle of sport.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 11, 2024.