Canada 11th in Olympic medal table after adding another gold

After failing to capture a medal at the Olympics on Monday, Canada has stormed back to the podium on a busy Tuesday at the Paris 2024 Games.

Canada had one medal opportunity heading into the day — 25-year-old Camryn Rogers in the women’s hammer throw final — and it turned out that was all the country needed to make a return to the Olympic podium.

Rogers not only got on the podium, but she was front and centre with Canada’s first-ever gold medal in women’s hammer throw and second overall in the sport after Ethan Katzberg did the same in the men’s event over the weekend.

That gives Canada six gold medals at the Games this year and 18 altogether, which keeps them 11th among all countries on the medal table, ahead of 12th-place New Zealand and behind 11th-place Germany.

If you sort by total medals, Canada is in the top 10.

canada olympic medal table aug 6

Olympics.com

Here are all the Canadian highlights from a busy day 11 in Paris.

Canada is a hammer throw nation

The headliner of Canada’s Olympic day was the gold medal-winning performance put on by Rogers in the women’s hammer throw event.

It was a tense final. Rogers initially held the lead after the first round of throws but lost it twice as the other competitors battled for a spot on the podium. It wasn’t until Rogers’ fifth attempt, when she tossed the hammer 76.97 metres, that she clinched the gold medal.

Her reaction to becoming an Olympic champion was priceless.

Canada may be known most for its love of hockey, but hammer throw is making a surprise surge on the world stage to change that at these Olympics.

Canada eliminated in men’s Basketball

From the highs of an Olympic gold to the lows of a shocking elimination in the men’s basketball event for Canada.

After the Canadian team managed to go undefeated in group play, things did not go according to plan against France in the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament earlier today.

The Canadians fell behind early and could not quite find their way back into the game. Though Canada was seen as the favourite going into this game, France walked away with an 82-73 victory.

Canada mounted a late comeback, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the French.

This exit matches Canada’s best showing at the Olympic men’s basketball tournament as the Canadian team also fell to France in the quarterfinal of the Sydney 2001 Olympic Games.

So close (again) for Caeli McKay in diving

Canada came as close as it could to getting a second medal on the day in the women’s 10-metre platform diving final, but it just wasn’t meant to be.

25-year-old Caeli McKay came into this Olympic competition having finished fourth place in this exact event in Tokyo 2020. She found herself in that position again, just missing out on a podium finish.

She scored a total of 364.50 points in the event, which was not enough to surpass the 372.10 points picked up by bronze medalist Kim Mi-rai from North Korea.

It was a tough pill to swallow for McKay and she didn’t shy away from showing her emotions after the competition.

That’s all for Canada in water polo

Canada’s run in the women’s water polo event also came to a crushing end earlier today.

The Canadian women struggled in pool play, winning just one of their four preliminary matches. However, they did advance to the quarterfinals and were matched up against a strong Spanish team that had not lost a single match going into this one.

Unfortunately for Canada, that trend continued as Spain eliminated them by a score of 18-8.

Lots to cheer about in canoe sprint

There was a lot to cheer about for Canada in the canoe sprint quarterfinals this morning.

Five Canadian teams advanced to the semi-finals, including the men’s and women’s K2 and K4 500-metre teams and the women’s C2 500-metre team.

Out of all those teams, the best result came from the women’s C2 team of Sloan MacKenzie and Katie Vincent. They picked up the fastest time, an Olympic record time of 1:54.16, in the preliminary races and got a bye into the semis.

MacKenzie and Vincent will compete in the semifinal on Friday, as will Canada’s men’s and women’s K2 teams. The Canadian men’s and women’s K4 will head back into the water for their semifinals on Thursday.

Good news on the track

A few more eyes will need to be kept on some Canadian track athletes as there were some more encouraging results from the Stade de France today.

20-year-old Savannah Sutherland ran in the women’s 400-metre hurdles semifinal earlier today. She finished fourth in her heat and sixth overall with a time of 53.80 seconds to advance into the event’s final.

Sutherland will try to improve upon that time when she runs in the final on Thursday.

There was also some more good news for the Canadian Olympic team for the men’s 200-metre sprint. Andre De Grasse already booked his ticket into the semifinals on Monday, and fellow canucks Aaron Brown and Brendon Rodney will join him there after the pair finished second and third, respectively, in today’s repechage round.

De Grasse is set to run in the first heat, Brown in the second heat, and Rodney in the third heat of the 200-metre semifinals tomorrow.

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