Some Canadians qualified for Paris 2024 at Pan Am Games, while others await their next shot
2 boxers, a surfer and a sailor earn golden tickets
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The Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile closed Sunday with Canadian athletes taking home 164 medals, including 46 gold, over 16 days of competition. In terms of both total and gold medals, it was Canada's second-best showing ever for a Pan Am Games it did not host.
The more recognizable winners included Olympic champion swimmer Maggie Mac Neil, whose five gold medals broke the Canadian record for a single Pan Am Games; hammer thrower Ethan Katzberg, who followed up this summer's surprise world title by becoming the first to surpass 80 metres at the Pan Ams; shot putter Sarah Mitton, who now holds both the Commonwealth and Pan Am Games titles along with her silver from this year's worlds; and diver Pamela Ware, who won gold in the 1m and 3m springboard events after capturing her fourth career world-championships medal this summer. Each of those athletes should contend for the Olympic podium next summer in Paris.
Other big winners included breakdancer Philip Kim (aka B-Boy Phil Wizard) and boxers Tammara Thibeault and Wyatt Sanford, who each clinched an Olympic spot for themselves with their gold-medal victories. Surfer Sanoa Dempfle-Olin, who took silver, was the other Canadian athlete to earn a personal Olympic berth, which came with an actual souvenir gold ticket in recognition of the accomplishment.
In all, Canadians secured Olympic spots (if not specifically for themselves, then for the country) in 12 events across a variety of sports, including equestrian, sailing and shooting. But several Canadian teams failed to grab an Olympic berth.
In water polo, where the gold-medal winners earned a ticket to Paris, the Canadian women's team lost to the United States in their gold-medal game while the men fell in the semis before losing their bronze match to Argentina. The women can still reach the Olympics via the World Aquatics Championships in February in Doha, but they'll need to finish in the top two among teams that haven't already qualified. The men are eliminated from Olympic contention.
Olympic spots also went to the gold medallists in field hockey, but both Canadian teams lost in the semifinals. The men rebounded to defeat the U.S. for bronze, which won them a spot in a last-chance Olympic qualifying tournament in January. The women lost their bronze game, but in their tournament a fourth-place finish was enough to advance to the last-chance qualifier.
No Olympic spots were up for grabs in men's and women's rugby sevens and women's softball, where Canada's teams came away with, respectively, silver, bronze and bronze. The women's rugby sevens team had already secured a spot in the Olympics, while the men must win a last-chance qualifying tournament next year to get in. Softball was dropped from the Olympic program for Paris, but it will return in 2028 in Los Angeles.
At the moment, Canada has qualified four entries in Paris for what we might call "team sports." Along with the aforementioned women's rugby sevens, those are in women's soccer, men's basketball and men's volleyball.
The women's volleyball team still hopes to get in based on its world ranking in June, while the women's and men's 3-on-3 basketball teams can grab a spot via the global qualifiers taking place next year.
In regular basketball, the Canadian women will try to secure one of the Olympic spots available at a set of global qualifying tournaments coming up in February. But first, they must get through a regional pre-qualifier starting this Thursday in Colombia, where the top two teams advance. That shouldn't be a problem for the Canadians, who are ranked fifth in the world and will face No. 12 Puerto Rico, No. 30 Colombia and No. 42 Venezuela in the four-team, straight-round-robin event. Read more about what's coming up for Canadian women's basketball in this story by CBC Sports' Myles Dichter.
