BY EVAN PERRY
The 2024 Paris Olympics marked a pretty historic Games for Canada. The country finished with nine gold medals, seven silver medals, and 11 Bronze medals, for a total of 27 medals in this year's Olympics. It’s the most ever for the country in a non-boycotted game, making Paris 2024 an Olympics to remember for Canada.
Swimming
Canada had one of the country's most successful years for the swimming competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics. The nation’s swimmers brought home eight swimming medals, which matches the 1976 Montreal Olympics’ total—making it the second most successful Olympics swimming showing behind the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles 40 years ago.
The star of Canada’s Olympic showing was Summer McIntosh. McIntosh brings home 4 medals for Canada's Olympic swimming team, including 3 golds for the Womans 200m butterfly, the woman's 200m individual medley and the woman's 400m individual medley, as well as a silver in the 400m women's freestyle. This made her the first Canadian athlete in Olympic history to take home three gold medals in a single Olympics.
Another special moment came when Josh Liendo and Ilya Kharun earned silver and bronze medals in the men’s 100m butterfly, marking the first time two Canadian men’s swimmers stood on the same podium.
Hammer throw
This year's Olympic hammer throw was a dominant and historic one for Canada, with Ethan Katzburg and Camryn Rogers winning Canada’s first-ever gold medals in men's and women’s hammer throw respectively.
Katzburg, of Nanaimo, B.C., became the first Olympic medalist for Canada in the hammer throw event since Duncan Gillis who won silver at the 1912 Stolkholm Olympic games. Katzburg won gold with a commanding performance—his first throw of 84.12m was the longest throw in men's hammer throw since the 2008 Olympics. Katzberg’s showing also earned him a role as co-flag bearer alongside McIntosh.
To top off an already impressive hammer throw showing at the games, Canada had Camryn Rogers from Richmond, B.C., take gold for the country's first-ever women's gold medal in the hammer throw event. Rogers’ gold medal is Canada’s third ever in a women’s athletics event at the Olympic Games.
Men's 4x100m Relay
Canada shocked the field this year as they took home gold in this year's men's 4x100m relay race. The first gold for Canada in the event since Donovan Bailey and his teammates won it nearly 30 years ago in 1996 was helped in part by the American team’s botched first hand-off—which had them disqualified from the race—but Canada still ran a very impressive race. With Andre De Grasse running the anchor leg, the Canadians posted a winning time of 37.5 seconds in Friday's final. In an Olympics where none of the Canadian sprinters—including defending 200m champion De Grasse—made it to the final stage of the sprints, it was inspiring to see them win gold in such a dramatic fashion. Considering all the hardships they had faced leading up to the event, it was nice to see Canadian teamwork get the job done.
Men's breakdancing
Canada danced to the top of the podium and took home Gold for the first (and for the foreseeable future last-ever) Breaking event in the Olympics this year. Phil Wizard (Philip Kim), the 27-year-old from Vancouver making his Olympic debut, was a favourite in the event and the 2022 Pan American Games reigning Breaking champion. He showed why.
Kim had a dominating and thrilling performance having the audience on their feet in excitement in the gold medal finals against French breaker and home crowd favourite Dany Dann (Danis Civil) to win Canada's and the Olympic's first gold medal in the event. Unfortunately for Kim, Breaking does not look like it will be a part of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, U.S. or the 2032 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, so he might just have to hold onto the Olympic title for a bit.
Women's Judo
To add to Canada's historic Olympics this year, Christa Deguchi won Canada’s first-ever Gold in Judo. Deguchi, who was born and raised and trained in Japan, has been competing for Canada since 2017 as her father is Canadian. It was not an easy road for Deguchi to get to the Paris Olympics, as she had to fight and beat Canada's Jessica Klimklatt, who had won bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics, to compete this year. Deguchi dramatically won gold, as the gold medal match came down to a sudden death overtime where her opponent, South Korean Huh Mimi, was flagged for a false attack penalty, awarding Deguchi the win in the process.
Women’s beach volleyball
Canada had a remarkable run during the women’s beach volleyball competition in this year's Paris Olympics, with the Toronto duo of Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes winning silver. It was an impressive showing considering the duo went 1-2 in the preliminary phase, leading them to play in a lucky loser match to advance to the next round. After facing this adversity, the duo would put up a string of wins that would lead them to medal in the events, becoming the first Canadian women’s beach volleyball team to reach the finals and the first to medal in the event.
Women's Fencing
Canada also made history in the sport of fencing. Eleanor Harvey from Hamilton, Ont., earned a bronze medal in the women’s individual foil event. Coming into the Olympics Harvey had previously placed 7th in the 2016 Rio Olympics, which was the highest result Canada had gotten in the Olympics for fencing. Harvey credits her cool and calm mindset coming into the competition this year as the reason her performance has stepped up from previous years’ Olympics.
Women's Rugby 7’s
Despite not getting gold in the event, the Canadian women's rugby 7’s team had already won when they played in the finals, getting the best result in Canadian Olympic rugby history by winning silver at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The Canadian team faced fierce competition to advance so far, facing France and Australia—two of the top 3 women's rugby 7’s teams—before losing the gold medal match to New Zealand, a team that had won the previous two Olympic rugby 7’s competitions.
Women's Pole Vaulting
Alysha Newman reached new heights in this year's Paris Olympics, winning bronze and becoming the first Canadian woman to win a medal in the pole vault. The Delaware, Ont., product jumped 4.85 metres, the same as the eventual silver medalist Katie Moon for the U.S. However, Newman had one more missed attempt than her competitor and thus received the bronze. Newman is the first Canadian since William Halpenny in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics to win a medal for the country in pole vaulting, adding yet another impressive stat for this historic Canadian showing.
Bright futures ahead
Overall, it was a very historic and impressive showing for Canada at this year's Olympics. Hopefully, this historic year will show what more to come from Canada. While its Winter Olympics stature is already known, it seems the country has a bright future ahead for the Summer Games as well.
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