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Canadian athletes to watch at the Tokyo Olympics – CBC.ca

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This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, which is CBC Sports’ daily email newsletter. Stay up to speed on what’s happening in sports by subscribing here.

The Olympics are just days away — here are some Canadians to watch

Canada is sending 371 athletes to Tokyo — the country’s largest Olympic team since the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. They range in age from 14 (swimmer Summer McIntosh) to 56 (equestrian rider Mario Deslauriers) and they’ll compete in almost three dozen sports. With a group this large and diverse, you can bet that someone we haven’t noticed yet will do something extraordinary in Tokyo. That’s one of the great things about the Olympics. But, for now, here are some of the athletes we’re expecting big things from once competition begins next week:

Christine Sinclair: The 38-year-old forward has scored more times than anyone in the history of international soccer. She has two more goals than American great Abby Wambach, 77 more than Cristiano Ronaldo and 109 more than Pele. In what could be her final Olympics, Sinclair will try to lead the Canadian women’s team to the podium for the third consecutive time.

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Andre De Grasse: After going toe-to-toe with Usain Bolt in Rio and coming away with three medals, the 26-year-old sprinter has a chance to pull off the 100m/200m/4x100m podium triple again. De Grasse’s times have been so-so this year, particularly in the 100. But that event is wide open now with Bolt retired and reigning world champ Christian Coleman suspended. Plus, De Grasse has always delivered in big races: he’s reached the podium in all five individual events he’s entered at the Olympics or world championships. Read more about De Grasse in this profile by CBC Sports contributor Vivek Jacob.

The swimmers: So many Canadian women are contenders for an individual medal that it would be unfair to name only one. At the top of the list is Kylie Masse, who built on her bronze in the 100m backstroke in Rio by winning the world title in both 2017 and ’19. She added a bronze in the 200 back at the ’19 worlds. Canada has another reigning world champ in Maggie Mac Neil (100m butterfly), and Sydney Pickrem took bronze in both the 200 breaststroke and 200 medley in Rio. Penny Oleksiak hasn’t reached the podium in an individual event at a major international meet since her stunning gold- and silver-medal swims as a 16-year-old in Rio, but she looked rejuvenated at last month’s Canadian trials. Oleksiak swam her best time in the 100 freestyle since setting the Olympic record and tying American Simone Manuel for gold in Rio. Then there’s Summer McIntosh, the 14-year-old sensation who stole the show at the trials by beating Oleksiak in the 200 free and also winning the 800. On the opposite end of the age curve is Brent Hayden. The 2007 world champion and 2012 Olympic bronze medallist in the men’s 100m freestyle came out of a seven-year retirement to win the 50 free at the trials. At 37, he’s about to become the oldest Canadian ever to swim in the Olympics. Read more about this exciting wave of Canadian swimmers in this story by CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux.

Damian Warner: The 31-year-old decathlete has been a podium fixture for the better part of a decade, winning medals at the 2016 Olympics and the 2013, ’15 and ’19 world championships. He’s also won gold at the Pan Am Games (twice) and the Commonwealth Games. This could be the year Warner finally reaches the top step at one of the truly big meets. In May, he broke his own three-year-old Canadian record by scoring 8,995 points. Only three decathletes have ever scored higher, and they’re all Olympic and/or world champions.

Rosie MacLennan: In Rio, the trampolinist became the first Canadian ever to repeat as Olympic champion in an individual summer event. MacLennan went on to win the 2018 world title and took bronze at the ’19 worlds in Tokyo despite suffering a broken ankle seven months before the competition. Read about the 32-year-old’s quest for an Olympic three-peat in this story by CBC Sports’ Jamie Strashin.

Laurence Vincent Lapointe: Women’s canoe is finally in the Olympics, and Vincent Lapointe has dominated the two events that will be held in Tokyo. She owns seven world titles in the 200m singles and four in the 500m doubles. It looked like Vincent Lapointe might not make it to Tokyo after she tested positive for a banned muscle-builder in the summer of 2019, but her provisional suspension was overturned after she successfully argued she didn’t knowingly take the drug. Vincent Lapointe was almost left out of the Olympics anyway because her ban prevented her from qualifying before the pandemic hit, but the Canadian team found a way around that last week by reallocating one of its kayak spots to her. Vincent Lapointe and Katie Vincent will compete as a doubles pair and in the solo event in Tokyo. Read more about Vincent Lapointe’s winding road to the Olympics here.

Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes: Beach volleyball is always a hit at the Olympics, and Canada has one of the best women’s duos on the planet. The 6-foot-5 Pavan and the 5-9 Humana Paredes won the world title in 2019 and head to Tokyo ranked No. 1 in the world.

Meaghan Benfeito: The 32-year-old diver already owns three Olympic bronze medals — one in the 10-metre individual event, two in the 10m synchro with former partner Roseline Filion, who’s now retired. In Tokyo, Benfeito will again compete in both the solo event and the synchro, this time with 22-year-old Caeli McKay.

Ellie Black: Only one Canadian has ever won an Olympic medal in traditional gymnastics (Kyle Shewfelt took gold in the men’s floor event in 2004) and no Canadian woman has ever reached the podium. But Black, 25, has a shot after taking silver in the all-around event at the 2017 world championships in Montreal and finishing fourth at the ’19 worlds. In Tokyo, she’ll be up against the great Simone Biles, who’s looking to repeat as all-around champ. Read more about Black and her “aggressive” style, as Shewfelt describes it, in this story by The Canadian Press’ Donna Spencer.

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Here’s what we know about the allegations against Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara

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LOS ANGELES –

Only a week has passed since the Los Angeles Dodgers abruptly fired Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter and constant companion of their new $700 million slugger, Shohei Ohtani.

But the biggest story of baseball’s spring is still murky — and shocking — as the regular season begins in earnest Thursday.

The scandal encompasses gambling, alleged theft, extensive deceit and the breakup of an enduring partnership between the majors’ biggest star and his right-hand man. Investigations are underway by the IRS and Major League Baseball, and Ohtani publicly laid out a version of events Monday that placed the responsibility entirely on Mizuhara.

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Here are the basics as Ohtani and the Dodgers prepare for their home opener against St. Louis on Thursday:

Why was Ippei Mizuhara fired by the Dodgers?

Ohtani claims his close friend repeatedly took money from his accounts to fund his illegal sports gambling habit. Ohtani also says he was completely unaware of the “massive theft,” as his lawyers termed it, until Mizuhara confessed to him and the Dodgers last week in South Korea, where the team opened its regular season against the San Diego Padres.

Mizuhara has given more than one version of his path to this trouble, which was catalyzed by the IRS’ investigation of Mathew Bowyer, an alleged illegal bookmaker. Mizuhara has consistently said he has a gambling addiction, and he abused his close friendship with the Dodgers superstar to feed it.

Did Shohei Ohtani ever bet on sports?

That’s the biggest question to be answered in Major League Baseball’s investigation, and the two-time AL MVP emphatically says he has never gambled on sports or asked anybody to bet on sports for him.

Further, Ohtani said Monday he has never knowingly paid a bookie to cover somebody else’s bets. Mizuhara also said Ohtani does not bet, and Bowyer’s attorney said the same.

Mizuhara told ESPN on March 19 that Ohtani paid his gambling debts at the interpreter’s request, saying the bets were on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college football. If that were true, Ohtani could face trouble even if he didn’t make the bets himself — but ESPN said Mizuhara dramatically changed his story the following day, claiming Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambling debts and had not transferred any money to bookmakers.

MLB rules prohibit players and team employees from wagering — even legally — on baseball. They also ban betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers.

What’s next for Ohtani?

Ohtani has played in every Dodgers game since the story broke, and he is expected to be their designated hitter in most regular-season games this season while baseball’s investigation continues.

Ohtani says his legal team has alerted authorities to the theft by Mizuhara, although his team has repeatedly declined to say which authorities have been told, according to ESPN.

Ohtani’s new interpreter is Will Ireton, a longtime Dodgers employee and fluent Japanese speaker who has filled several jobs with the team in everything from game preparation and analytics to recruiting free-agent pitches. But Ireton won’t be Ohtani’s constant companion, and manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday he’s optimistic that Ohtani will become closer to his teammates without the “buffer” provided for years by Mizuhara.

What don’t we know?

MLB’s investigation of Ohtani’s role in the events could last weeks or months, and it’s unlikely to be publicized until it’s complete. No one outside of Ohtani’s inner circle knows what it will find or how serious any repercussions could be, and nobody outside the circle is making informed speculation about the process.

One major question looms: How did Mizuhara have enough access to Ohtani’s bank accounts to get the alleged millions without Ohtani knowing? Is the slugger overly trusting, or is he wildly negligent in managing his vast fortune, which includes years of lavish endorsement deals in addition to his baseball salaries? Why didn’t the team around him, including his agent, do more to prevent the possibility of the theft he claims?

Finally, where is Mizuhara? Anybody who knows isn’t saying. He was fired in South Korea and apparently didn’t travel home with the Dodgers. Japanese media have visited his home in Southern California to look for him. Although he was born in Japan, Mizuhara’s life is in the U.S. — but his life will never be the same.

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