Canada’s Olympic Journey: From rising stars to seasoned champions

BY KRISHNA MISTRY

The Paris Olympics have almost come to an end, and we can see the determination and training all athletes have put in to compete at such a high level. When watching the Olympics, it is a common misconception that countries participate in the Olympic games.

When competing in the Olympics, athletes are from National Olympic Committees (NOCs). Athletes are chosen from the territories of two hundred and six NOCs and then compete at the Games to represent their NOC.

This was the same for Canadian athletes. They compete at trials, and then they are chosen for the national team to represent their country. In this year’s Summer 2024 Paris Olympics, Canada’s team consists of three hundred and fifteen athletes competing in a total of forty sports.

These athletes compete in a variety of sports, from boxing to archery to even equestrian. With the Olympics coming to an end, the Canadian teams have done a phenomenal job representing Canada. Canada is currently in eleventh place with seventeen medals in counting: four gold, four silver, and eight bronze.

The inclusion of new sports such as skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing in this year’s Olympics has presented Canadian athletes with opportunities. They are fostering their talent in these sports, with numerous athletes making their mark in international competitions.

Canadian athletes are making their mark in many sports like swimming, athletics, rowing, and cycling. A few athletes who have made huge contributions to all of this are: Andre de Grasse (athletics), Damian Warner (athletics), Summer McIntosh (swimming), Penny Oleksiak (swimming), and Kelsey Mitchell (cycling).

Andre de Grasse is a twenty-nine-year-old athletics athlete who is a six-time Olympic medalist. You also saw Damian Warner at the Olympics this year. Warner is a 34-year-old athlete and a four-time Olympic medalist who specializes in decathlon and plans to defend his title.

Summer McIntosh, a seventeen-year-old swimmer rising star, has done the impossible. McIntosh has won three gold medals in the women’s two-hundred-meter butterfly, the women’s two-hundred-meter individual medley, and the four-hundred-meter individual medley. She has also won silver in the four-hundred-meter freestyle event. McIntosh became the first Canadian to win three gold medals at a single Olympic game.

Another athlete you can see at this year’s Olympics is Aaron Brown. Brown competes in athletics, which is essentially track and field. He specializes in the one-hundred-meter and two-hundred-meter races. The thirty-two-year-old athlete has been competing for fifteen years and won six major medals in his career.

He has had the opportunity to compete at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, where he won silver in the 4 x 100 meters relay; the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where he won bronze in the 4 x 100 meters relay; and the 2024 Paris Olympics. At this year’s Olympics, Brown faced a major setback. Brown was disqualified from the one-hundred-meter race after a false start. He was looking forward to taking another Olympic medal for this event, but unfortunately, he was not able to do that. Though he still has a chance to secure a medal in the 4 x 100 meters relay.

Canada has been playing phenomenally in team sports to secure their spot in the quarterfinals. A few team sports that Canada has been playing are soccer, basketball, and volleyball. Currently, the men’s basketball team is set to compete in the quarterfinals against France on August 5^th, 2024, at 12:00 pm EST. The women’s basketball team unfortunately did not qualify for the quarterfinals after they lost against Nigeria by nine points.

The Canadian women’s soccer team was determined to defend their title in Paris, but unfortunately were disqualified. The women’s team qualified for the quarterfinals, where they played against Germany. Canada suffered a 4-2 penalty shootout loss and is now on their way home.

As the Olympics draw to a close, I am proud to say that the Canadian team has demonstrated great potential across a variety of sports.