Skip to main content

Here's what Canada did on Sunday at the Tokyo Olympics

Share

From a record-setting medal for star swimmer Penny Oleksiak to Andre De Grasse running a personal best for bronze in the men's 100 metres, here are five things to know from Sunday, Aug. 1, at the Tokyo Olympics.

MOST DECORATED

In her last event at the Tokyo Olympics, Penny Oleksiak finally got the medal that put her into a class of her own among Canada's Olympians. The Toronto swimmer helped Canada to a bronze medal in the medley relay, giving her seven Olympic medals overall. Oleksiak is now the most decorated Canadian Olympian of all time, as her one gold, two silver and four bronze moved her past speedskater Cindy Klassen and cyclist-speedskater Clara Hughes. Oleksiak won her sixth medal earlier in the Games with a bronze in the 200 freestyle, but finished fourth in her next two events before getting her record-breaking medal Sunday. "Once I got that sixth, there was a little bit of pressure on me to get that seventh medal," she said. "My two other races I was really thinking about it, get that seven, get that seven. Then I came fourth and both of those hurt a little bit. "But then, honestly, on the last race, I accepted it. I have six Olympic medals. I'm not going to complain if I leave here with six Olympic medals."

DE GRASSE RACES TO BRONZE

Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse overcame a slow start to the men's 100 metres to claim his second straight Olympic bronze medal in the event. In a wide-open field missing retired mega-star Usain Bolt, De Grasse left it all out on the track and finished in a personal-best time of 9.89 seconds. It wasn't quite enough to improve on his bronze from the 2016 Rio Games. Italy's Lamont Jacobs took the gold in 9.80 seconds, followed by American Fred Kerley in 9.84 seconds. De Grasse will have a day off before he's back on the track for the 200 heats and semifinal on Tuesday.

NO REPEAT FOR WIEBE

Wrestler Erica Wiebe's quest for a second straight Olympic championship was cut short when she lost her opening match in the women's 76-kilogram freestyle competition. Estonia's Epp Maee jumped out to a quick lead and hung on for a 5-4 win over Wiebe at the Makuhari Messe Hall. It was a fairly surprising early exit for the defending champion, who couldn't recover from a slow start. "My only goal today was just to compete at my best, and I think I did that the last two minutes of the match," the native of Stittsville, Ont., said. "That wasn't enough today." Wiebe was eliminated from the competition later when Maee lost her next match and denied the Canadian a spot in the repechage.

REVIEW TO THE RESCUE (EVENTUALLY)

Canada's Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson's close win over Americans Sarah Sponcil and Kelly Claes in the women's beach volleyball round-of-16 came with a little added tension. The Canadians led 12-11 in the decisive third set when a serve from Sponcil was ruled out-of-bounds. The Americans called for a challenge using a system introduced five years ago at the Rio Olympics. The replay on the stadium video board showed the ball had clearly landed out. Yet the video board said the ball was out and the challenge was successful, which isn't possible. The players complained to the referee, and the stadium announcer explained that the challenge would be reviewed again. The call was corrected, and instead of a 12-12 tie it was 13-11, with Canada leading. The Canadians went on to win 22-24, 21-18, 15-13 and set up a quarterfinal match Tuesday with Latvians Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka.

HOOPS TEAM NEEDS HELP

Canada's women's basketball team will be scoreboard watching on Monday. The Canadians will need a bit of help to advance to the tournament quarterfinals after a 76-66 loss to Spain left them third in their preliminary-round group at 1-2. Canada almost got the help it needed when South Korea led Serbia late in the final group-stage game of the night. But Serbia came back to win 65-61 and take second place in the group. The top two teams in each pool advance as well as the top two third-place teams. The remaining quarterfinalists won't be known until the final preliminary-round games finish up Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 1, 2021.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'

The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.

Stay Connected