Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Never in her imagined worst-case scenarios did Meaghan Benfeito think her Olympic adventure would end this way.
The 32-year-old's fourth Olympics finished in heartbreaking fashion on Thursday after she failed to qualify for the women's 10-metre platform diving final.
"Yes I'm sad, I don't want to finish my career this way," said Benfeito, who missed qualifying by five points. "It hurts. But I fought to the end, I'm proud of myself."
The three-time bronze medallist found herself at the bottom of the pack after she struggled on her first dive, a back 2 1/2 somersaults with 1 1/2 twists that had also given her trouble in practice.
She temporarily rose into the 12th and final qualifying spot after getting high scores for her fourth dive, but ultimately fell back into 13th.
"I'm not an athlete who looks for excuses," Benfeito said. "I missed my dives.
"Earlier this week, I got a little lost in the backspin of my first dive and it showed today that I was fearful."
When asked to elaborate, the 32-year-old Montrealer said the mistake was a technical one.
"When I lift my head too much at the start, I don't get enough momentum to arrive vertical," she said. "It's disappointing, especially since I've been doing it for 20 years. To know I wasn't able to execute it when it counted the most sucks.
"At the same time, I'm proud of having continued to push and to battle to the end. Despite two missed dives, I still got nearly 300 points."
Fourteen-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan soared above the competition, finishing just above her teammate Chen Yuxi going into Thursday's final.
Benfeito won a bronze medal in the 10-metre platform in 2016. She also won two bronzes in the 10-metre synchro event in 2012 and 2016 with former partner Roseline Filion.
Benfeito and Caeli McKay finished fourth in the 10-metre synchronized event last week, missing the podium by less than a point.
At the age of 32, Benfeito believes Tokyo will be her final Olympics. However, she said she doesn't want to end her career this way. She'll take a few weeks to rest and reflect before deciding whether to compete in a few FINA Grands Prix later this year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 5, 2021.
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Calgary police shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers dealt with a distraught individual. The incident lasted almost 20 hours.
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
B.C. conservation officers recently seized a nine-foot-long Burmese python from a home in Chilliwack.
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
The Ontario government is introducing changes to auto-insurance, but some experts say the move is ill-advised.
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
Newfoundland’s unique version of the Pine Marten has grown out of its threatened designation.
A Toronto man is out $12,000 after falling victim to a deepfake cryptocurrency scam that appeared to involve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn’t take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs.
There’s a group of people in Saskatoon that proudly call themselves dumpster divers, and they’re turning the city’s trash into treasure.
Ontario is facing a larger than anticipated deficit but the Doug Ford government still plans to balance its books before the next provincial election.