Canadian boxer Wyatt Sanford might not have won his final match at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, but he still will be coming home with some hardware — and a place in his country’s sporting history.
Despite a loss in the semifinal to France’s Sofiane Oumiha by a 4-1 decision, Sanford was still awarded a bronze medal in the 63.5kg division.
That’s not due to a disqualification or some other way Sanford lucked into a medal, but rather due to a rule in certain Olympic sports — namely judo, wrestling, and boxing — that award two bronze medallists to the semifinal losers rather than having them face off in another fight.
This is Sanford’s second appearance at the Olympic Games, having finished 17th in Tokyo 2020 in the 69kg welterweight division. David Defiagbon had been Canada’s last boxer to win an Olympic medal, when he picked up a silver in the heavyweight division at Atlanta 1996.
🇨🇦🥉BRONZE FOR CANADA🥉🇨🇦
Good morning. Wyatt Sanford became Canada’s first Olympic boxing medallist in 28 years with a semifinal loss just now.
No bronze medal game in boxing, so he gets a medal for dropping the semifinal fight.
— Ben Steiner (@BenSteiner00) August 4, 2024
“I’m on top of the world,” Sanford told reporters on Thursday after qualifying for the semifinal. “We’re finally, after 28 years of a drought, we’re bringing a medal home to Canada.”
Sanford’s medal was Canada’s first on Sunday, with the medal count now up to sixteen with a week to go in the Olympics. Saturday was Canada’s most successful day yet at these Games, and will likely be remembered as one of the most iconic in the country’s entire sporting history.
Ilya Kharun (bronze) and Josh Liendo (silver) were both on the same podium in the 100m butterfly, while Summer McIntosh picked up her third gold medal in the 200m individual medley. Elsewhere in the water, Canada’s eight-woman rowing boat claimed silver in their event, finishing the 2000m course just slightly behind the gold-medal winning Romanian team.
There’s officially one week left in the Games, with the Closing Ceremony set for August 11 in the French capital.
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