PARIS – A three-medal performance, including gold from judoka Christa Deguchi and swimmer Summer McIntosh, restored some shine to Canada’s Olympic campaign tarnished by the ongoing soccer spying scandal.
Deguchi captured the country’s first gold medal of the Paris Olympics with a victory over South Korea’s Huh Mimi in the under-57 kilogram final on Monday.
Deguchi was crowned Olympic champion after Huh was flagged for a false attack in sudden-death overtime, giving her a match-ending third penalty.
The win was golden payback for Deguchi, who lost to Huh in the under-57 kg final at the 2024 World Championships.
“It’s been a long journey to get here, and 50 per cent I believe it and 50 per cent I can’t believe what I’ve done,” she said. “I’m very happy to bring the gold medal back to Canada, and to my family.”
Deguchi, 28, lives and trains in Japan, the country of her birth. She has competed for Canada since 2017 through her Canadian father.
McIntosh, the 17-year-old phenom from Toronto, followed that with a golden performance in the women’s 400-metre individual medley.
McIntosh won decisively with a time of four minutes 27.71 seconds, finishing two body lengths ahead of American silver medallist Katie Grimes, who was over five seconds behind. Emma Weyant of the United States took bronze.
It was the Canadian’s second medal in Paris, following a silver in the 400-metre freestyle on the opening night.
Earlier in the day, the diving duo of Nathan Zsombor-Murray and Rylan Wiens won the bronze medal in the men’s synchronized 10-metre platform.
Zsombor-Murray, from Pointe-Claire, Que., and Regina’s Wiens finished third with a total of 422.13 points over six dives to claim Canada’s first-ever medal in the event, and the first Canadian men’s diving medal since Alexandre Despatie’s silver in the 3m springboard event in Beijing 2008.
The Chinese duo of Junjie Lian and Hao Yang won the gold medal with a score of 490.35 points, while Britain’s Tom Daley and Noah Williams followed with 463.44.
“I don’t know what to say. A dream has come true,” said Wiens. “My last 17 years of being diving, and since we paired up three years ago, it’s been our dream to be here. To have won it, that’s awesome.”
Meanwhile, the drone spying scandal involving Canada’s women’s soccer team is now heading to a special Olympic court.
Canada Soccer and the Canadian Olympic Committee appealed a point deduction against the team on Monday, and the case is set to appear before the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s special Olympic court in Paris in a closed-door hearing likely on Tuesday.
A ruling is expected Wednesday, before Canada’s final group stage game against Colombia in Nice.
FIFA docked six points from the women’s team on Saturday after a team analyst was caught using a drone to spy on New Zealand’s practices before the start of competition. The penalty also included a fine for Canada Soccer and the suspension of three coaching staff members for one year, including head coach Bev Priestman.
The appeal is the latest development in a scandal that has also seen the federal government withhold some funding from Canada Soccer.
On the water, Canada’s women’s eight rowing team will have a second chance to qualify for the final at the Paris Games.
The team, which took home the gold in Tokyo, came in third in its heat Monday morning. That means it will row in a repechage on Thursday. Several members of the team were on the winning eights team in Tokyo.
Canada’s women’s basketball team got off to a disappointing start, losing their tournament opener 75-54 to host France Monday in Lille.
Canada’s will face world No. 3 Australia on Thursday before closing out pool play against 12th-ranked Nigeria on Sunday.
Boxer Wyatt Sanford, Kennetcook, N.S., was very impressive in his Olympic debut with a dominant victory over Bulgaria’s Radoslav Rosenov in the men’s 63.5-kilogram Round of 16 Monday.
The top-seeded Sanford will face Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Abdullaev in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
The beach volleyball pair of Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, both of Toronto, scored an easy victory in their first match at the Paris Olympics, defeating Paraguay’s Giuliana Poletti and Michelle Valiente Amarilla 2-0 on Monday.
Over at the clay courts of Roland Garros, Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., moved on to the third round of the women’s singles tennis competition after knocking off Spain’s Cristina Busca in straight sets, 7-6 (4), 6-3, on Monday.
Fernandez later teamed with Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski to record a 6-1, 7-5 (5) win over France’s Clara Burel and Varvara Gracheva in women’s doubles. The Canadian duo will next meet the winner of a Tuesday match between neutral athletes Mira Andreeva and Diana Shnaider and Australians Olivia Gadecki and Ajla Tomljanovic.
Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., had her Olympic debut end early with a 6-3, 6-4 second-round loss to Croatia’s Donna Vekic.
Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime and Milos Raonic were eliminated from men’s doubles play on Monday with a tough first-round 7-6 (14), 6-4 loss to third-seeded Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul in men’s doubles.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2024.
