PARIS – The Maple Leaf was not raised on Day 10 of the Paris Olympics after Canadian athletes were held off the podium for the first time at the Games.
The women’s 3×3 basketball team had given hope that Canada would stretch its opening medal streak to a record 10 days when it led the United States halfway through its bronze-medal game.
But the Canadians couldn’t hang on, meaning Canada would hold at 17 medals (five gold, four silver, eight bronze) entering the final six days of competition.
The nine straight days of winning a medal after the opening ceremony equal Canada’s performance at the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro.
The medal drought isn’t expected to last long. Camryn Rogers of Richmond, B.C., is the heavy favourite to win gold in the women’s hammer throw on Tuesday. And several Canadian athletes set themselves up for potential medals down the road with strong performances Monday.
Andre De Grasse began his defence of his Olympic 200-metre title, qualifying for the semifinals by finishing second in his heat behind 100-metre champion Noah Lyles of the United States.
Caeli McKay qualified for the final of the women’s 10-metre platform diving. And the beach volleyball tandem of Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson knocked off the second-ranked team in the world to book a spot in the quarterfinals.
In women’s 3×3 basketball, the team of Edmonton twins Katherine and Michelle Plouffe, Paige Crozon of Humboldt, Sask., and Kacie Bosch of Lethbridge, Alta., had a couple of chances to add to Canada’s medal tally.
The team lost a heartbreaking semifinal 16-15 to Germany, which scored the winning point in the last second. They then seemed to be in control of their bronze medal match, before turnovers and fouls sent them to a 16-13 loss to the Americans, who won gold at the Toyko Olympics.
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The Canadian squad was making its Olympic debut after not qualifying when the sport made its debut three years ago.
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Katherine Plouffe had five points for Canada in the third-place game, while Michelle Plouffe and Bosch each added three.
The Americans got six points from Hailey van Lith.
On the track, the 29-year-old De Grasse, from Markham, Ont., crossed the finish line in 20.30 seconds.
De Grasse, who has been healthy in 2024 after two years battling injury and trying to find his old form, missed the 100 final on Sunday night.
But he has done far better in the 200. He closed last season with his fourth-best time ever with 19.76 seconds to win the Diamond League title in September.
“I’m feeling OK. It’s good to be back, running the 200m after last night (Sunday),” De Grasse said. “I’ve got a day off now, and get ready for the semifinals.
“That’s the plan, to defend the title. Right now, I’ve just got to focus on me, make sure I qualify through the rounds and go from there.”
Also Monday, Alysha Newman advanced into her first Olympic women’s pole vault final. The 30-year-old from London, Ont., cleared 4.55 metres on her first attempt in qualifying action to advance.
And Jean-Simon Desgagnes earned the last qualifying spot for the men’s 3,000 steeplechase final.
The 26-year-old from Quebec City finished fifth in Heat 3 with a time of eight minutes 25.28 seconds to take the last qualifying spot in his heat for Wednesday’s final.
McKay, of Calgary, finished seventh out of 18 in the semifinal on Monday after scoring a total of 308.85 over five dives.
China’s Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi topped the scoreboard, with 421.05 and 403.05 respectively, with Britain’s Andrea Spendolini Sirieix coming in third with 367.00.
“The job’s done for today. The job’s not done for the whole event. I’m really happy I made the finals. It was a very up-and-down day,” said McKay, assessing her performance. “I had some good stuff. I had some not-so-great stuff. Overall, I was relatively consistent, which I was really happy with. I have a lot of stuff I can improve on, so I’m quite relieved with that.”
McKay said it’s wide-open for bronze on Tuesday, but expects the Chinese divers to take gold and silver.
Ottawa’s Kate Miller was eliminated in the preliminary round after coming in 20th — two spots below the cutoff — with a score of 266.30.
At Eiffel Tower Stadium, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson made the most of their lifeline in the women’s beach volleyball tournament with a 2-0 win over Americans Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss in the Round of 16.
Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson, seeded fourth in Paris, struggled in preliminary round play. They finished third in their group at 1-2 and made it through to the knockout rounds thanks to a 2-0 win over Czechia in the “lucky loser” round.
But now the Toronto tandem is a win away from competing for a medal after the 21-19, 21-18 victory over the Americans. Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson will next face Spain’s Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno on Wednesday.
“We are treating every game like a tournament, like a whole new tournament,” Wilkerson said. “And now we are on to the next one.”
Elsewhere, Canada’s artistic swimming team led by individual world champion Jacqueline Simoneau of Saint-Laurent, Que., was fifth in the 10-country field after the technical routine.
Claire Scheffel of Brantford, Ont., says the Canadian swimmers take on the role of “forest magicians” for their routine.
“At the end, we really bring home the power and the freedom of the birds in the forest, and that magical feeling to close our routine,” she said. “We call it our ‘freedom arms’. We really go for it. We give our last push, our power. We take energy from the crowd and try and give it back to the judges.”
The team routine is scheduled for Tuesday, and the event ends Wednesday with the acrobatic routine.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 5, 2024.
