Au revoir to a wonderful Olympics
Some final thoughts on a truly delightful Games
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Paris officially bid adieu to its Summer Games this evening with a festive closing ceremony featuring joyous athletes, live music, theatrical performances and, yes, Tom Cruise.
Summer McIntosh and Ethan Katzberg — Canada's two youngest gold medallists — shared the role of flag-bearer as their country celebrated its most successful Summer Olympics ever.
Some closing thoughts on a truly delightful Games:
This was Canada's best Summer Olympics.
Canadians piled up 27 medals in Paris, including nine gold — both national records for a non-boycotted Summer Games. Yes, there are more events than ever now, and the Russia/Belarus ban surely opened up some podium opportunities. But this Canadian team went above and beyond expectations.
For example, the oft-cited Nielsen's Gracenote projections had Canada winning seven gold and 21 total medals, while oddsmakers more or less fell in line with those numbers. Hope you bet the over.
Canadians were front and centre throughout the Games, starring in the two most popular sports. McIntosh delivered on all the hype, and then some, winning a national-record three golds and a silver as Canada racked up eight swimming medals. Then, Canadians climbed five track and field podiums, highlighted by Ethan Katzberg and Camryn Rogers' historic sweep of the hammer throw titles and, of course, the men's 4x100m relay team's towering gold-medal upset.
Canadians broke new ground.
Rogers and Katzberg weren't the only ones to make history. B-boy Phil Wizard won the first Olympic men's gold medal in breaking, Christa Deguchi grabbed Canada's first judo gold, and Katie Vincent paddled to the country's first Olympic title in women's canoe. Beach volleyballers Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson and the women's rugby sevens team became the first Canadians to play for a gold medal in their sport — and gave their top-ranked opponents a run for their money before taking silver.
Sometimes, a bronze could feel as good as gold. Eleanor Harvey won Canada's first Olympic medal in fencing, while pole vaulter Alysha Newman, boxer Wyatt Sanford and the mixed-doubles tennis team of Gabriela Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime put the country back on the podium for the first time in decades in their sports.
Something not new: Canadian women once again carried the team. This has been the case for several Olympics now, but it was still remarkable to see women account for 17 of Canada's 26 non-mixed medals. At a time when the IOC is emphasizing gender parity, Canada is taking it to a whole other level.
WATCH | Canada's most memorable moments from the Paris Olympics:
There were some tough times.
The men's basketball team looked like a big-time medal contender before getting upset in the quarterfinals by France. Reigning decathlon champ Damian Warner lost his title when he failed to clear the pole vault bar. Shot put favourite Sarah Mitton fouled out. Track contender Moh Ahmed got tripped up in his 5,000m heat after a gutsy fourth-place finish in the 10,000.
Then there was Dronegate. The Canadian women's soccer team simply refused to go quietly after being heavily penalized for the spying scheme carried out by some of their coaches. But, after shocking France with a last-minute Vanessa Gilles goal and then defeating Colombia in another must-win game (Gilles again), the defiant Canadians finally fell to Germany in the quarterfinals.
However, to quote a line from a Tom Cruise movie, the sweet is never as sweet without the sour. And boy did Andre De Grasse show us that. After failing to qualify for the 100m and 200m finals, Canada's greatest sprinter anchored his 4x100 relay team to one of the most stunning victories we've ever seen, giving him a Canadian record-tying seven Olympic medals.
International athletes wowed us too.
To name just a few of my favourites:
American sprinter Noah Lyles stormed back from the slowest start in the men's 100m final to nip Jamaica's Kishane Thompson by five thousandths of a second in a fantastic photo finish. Swedish pole vault maestro Mondo Duplantis lit up the Stade de France en route to breaking the world record on his final attempt. U.S. middle-distance runner Cole Hocker shocked co-favourites Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr in the men's 1,500. French swimming sensation Leon Marchand thrilled the adoring crowd at La Defense Arena by winning a Phelpsian four golds in his four solo events. And American gymnastics star Simone Biles bounced back from her Tokyo disaster to capture three golds and a silver, giving her 11 Olympic medals.
For good measure this morning, the incomparable Dutch distance runner Sifan Hassan won gold in a wild women's marathon finish this morning, adding to her bronzes in the 5,000m and 10,000m track races — the latter just two days ago. Hassan is the first woman in history to medal in all three of those events at the same Olympics.
Is it 2028 yet?
The Los Angeles Games can't get here soon enough. McIntosh will be only 21 years old when she appears in her third (!) Olympics. Men's swimming medal winners Josh Liendo and Ilya Kharun will be 25 and 23. Katzberg will be 26.
Plus, imagine all the young Canadian athletes we haven't heard of yet. How many budding swimmers saw Summer, how many future track stars watched that relay, how many kids tuned into canoe or judo or beach volleyball or rugby sevens or fencing or pole vault — or whatever — and said that's gonna be me one day.
I can't wait to see what's next.
