PARIS – From b-boy gold to shattering record, here are five things to know from Saturday at the 2024 Paris Games:
NOBODY BEATS THE WIZARD
Canada is making a claim as a breaking country. Canadian b-boy Phil Wizard (Philip Kim) won gold in the Olympic men’s breaking tournament by outperforming French favourite Dany Dann (Danis Civil) in Saturday’s final. It’s the first men’s Olympic gold in the sport and could be the last for a while with breaking not part of the program at the Los Angeles Games in 2028. Kim described his Olympic experience as “historic” and pastry-filled. “A roller-coaster of emotions and a lot of pastries. I ate a lot of pastries,” he said.
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VICTORIOUS VINCENT
Having two Olympic bronze medals was nice, but Katie Vincent wanted more. So the sprint canoeist from Mississauga, Ont., went out and got it — in world record time. Vincent sprinted to a furious time of 44.12 seconds to win the women’s 200-metre final, finishing just one-hundredth of a second ahead of American Nevin Harrison. The golden result came a day after Vincent and Sloan MacKenzie took bronze in the women’s double 500. Vincent won bronze in that same event three years ago in Tokyo with Laurence Vincent-Lapointe.
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BEATEN BY A NOSE
Edmonton’s Marco Arop was one-hundredth of a second away from the top of the podium. The runner from Edmonton took silver in the men’s 800 metres after finishing just behind race winner Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya. Despite not getting the gold, Arop was far from disappointed. He set a national record with a time of one minute 41.20 seconds and says he “couldn’t be happier” with his performance.
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RECORD HAUL
Kim, Vincent and Arop contributed to a record-breaking day for Canada at the Olympics. Their three medals bring Canada’s total to 27 with one day left in the competition, eclipsing Canada’s biggest haul at a non-boycotted Olympics by three. Canada’s nine gold medals through Day 15 set a new record for the most golds won at a non-boycotted Olympics. Canada’s biggest haul was 10 gold and 44 total medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, but competition was diluted by an Eastern Bloc boycott led by the Soviet Union.
BATTLIN’ BROOKE
Canadian golfer Brooke Henderson couldn’t sustain a hot start in the final round of the women’s tournament Saturday. Henderson, Canada’s most decorated golfer, threatened midway through the day but faded with two bogeys on the back nine and closed with a 1-under-par 71 at Le Golf National. The 26-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., finished 13th, seven strokes back of gold medallist Lydia Ko of New Zealand.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, 2024.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
