PARIS – Canada’s sporting future is looking bright after the Paris 2024 Olympics, with a 27-medal haulthat set a record for a non-boycotted Games. The stars for Canada included plenty of young talent like swimmer and four-time medallist Summer McIntosh, who at only 17 years old is expected to lead the team into Los Angeles in 2028.
But what about the others? Here’s what some of Canada’s Olympians have said about their competitive futures.
When McIntosh and the Canadian swimming team head to L.A., they’ll be without Tokyo three-time medallist Maggie Mac Neil. The London, Ont. swimmer said before the Games that Paris would be her last, and the 24-year-old confirmed that in an Instagram post paying tribute to her teammates.
“Couldn’t be prouder of these girls for finishing such a great week for Canada in the pool,” she wrote, alongside a photo of her cheering poolside. “No one else I’d rather swim my last Olympic race with.”
Breaststroke specialist Kelsey Wog, 25, has also confirmed she won’t be returning, while Finlay Knox, 23, on the men’s side and Mary-Sophie Harvey, 25, on the women’s said they were eager to continue.
Bronze-medal backstroker Kylie Masse, 28, has also not declared her third Olympic Games her last, saying “I’m going to just reassess everything after the Games and really just kind of take a little bit of a break and think about what I want to do next.”
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Canada will be losing Natalie Achonwa, a stalwart forward of the Canadian women’s basketball team, who confirmed her retirement after four Olympics. While the Olympic tournament ended in disappointment for the team, the 31-year-old Achonwa said she’s looking forward to seeing what the next generation of players can do.
“When I take this jersey off, I hope that I left it better than I found it,” she said. “And that everyone back home knows that every time I put it on, I did it with the utmost amount of pride and passion.”
Other retirements include Kristen Kit, the 35-year-old coxswain of the women’s eight rowing team that won gold in Tokyo and silver in Paris. She’s also a two-time Paralympian.
Four-time Olympic gymnast Ellie Black has already helped to push the boundaries of her sport by showing that athletes can remain competitive well into their 20s. While she said she’ll take it day by day, the 28-year-old from Halifax isn’t ruling out Los Angeles.
“I’m just looking forward to taking a rest but also still continuing as long as my body can handle it and I’m finding joy and I have goals I want to achieve,” she said as her competition wrapped.
The athletics field for Canada in Paris saw the highest of Olympic highs, as well as crushing disappointments.
Four-time Olympic decathlete Damian Warner experienced the latter when he crashed out in the pole vault, dashing his hopes of defending his gold medal from Tokyo 2020.
After pulling out from the competition, Warner told a press conference that he felt he still loved the decathlon and had more to give. “I feel like I still have so much to improve on in the sport and I plan on doing this sport until that goes away,” he said. However, he acknowledged that at age 34, it’s unclear how much longer that will be.
“My time in the sport’s not done, but I’m closer to the end than the beginning, and that’s challenging,” he said.
Sprinter Andre de Grasse, 29, who anchored Canada’s 4x100m relay team to a historic gold last week, has previously said he’d like to go to L.A. in 2028, and said in Paris he still feels he has more to do in the sport.
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While some athletes are reluctant to discuss their futures so quickly after a Games, others have made it clear they’re continuing.
Beach volleyball player Brandie Wilkerson, 32, who teamed up with Melissa Humana-Paredes, 31, for a silver medal, indicated the team is looking to top the podium one day.
“There’s some great competitors out there in the world, but Canada is right there with everyone,” she said. “So we should be proud of that and we’ll continue to show that we’ll end up on top next time.”
Bronze-medal-winning pole vaulter Alysha Newman, 30, made it even more clear.
“Now I’m hungry for more,” she said, after winning Canada’s first medal in the women’s event. “Bronze is cute, but silver and gold? I got to get up there.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 11, 2024.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
