PARIS – When Canada’s women’s soccer team was stripped of six points by FIFA for its involvement in a drone spying scandal, the players rallied around a cry of “take away six (points), we go get nine.”
After come-from-behind 2-1 wins over New Zealand and host France, Canada edged Colombia 1-0 on Wednesday to advance.
Thanks to a second-half goal by Vanessa Gilles — also the stoppage time hero against France — Canada has earned a Saturday quarterfinal date with Germany.
The eighth-ranked Canadian squad is aiming to continue its medal streak after landing on the podium at the last three Games. Before taking home the gold in Tokyo, Canada won bronze in both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.
Before Wednesday’s match, a sports arbitration court dismissed Canada’s appeal of the six-point penalty. The Court of Arbitration for Sport said it would release its reasons for the decision at a later date. The COC and Canada Soccer, meanwhile, thanked the court for its speedy ruling while expressing disappointment with the outcome.
Canada Soccer was also fined more than $300,000 and three team members, including head coach Bev Priestman, were suspended for one year.
Meanwhile, Ilya Kharun was the third-fastest swimmer in the semifinals and the 19-year-old repeated that placing in Wednesday’s 200-metre butterfly final to earn a bronze medal at La Defense Arena.
Leon Marchand of France won the final in an Olympic record time of one minute 51.21 seconds, finishing ahead of Hungary’s Kristóf Milák (1:51.75) and Kharun.
Kharun, who grew up in Las Vegas, finished in a Canadian record time of 1:52.80. He is the first Canadian man to win an Olympic swim medal since 2012.
Trailing most of the race, Marchand surged past defending Olympic champion and world-record holder Milák to capture his second gold medal of the Paris Games. The Frenchman also won the 400 individual medley on Sunday.
Kharun’s podium finish boosted Canada’s medal tally to seven, with two gold. two silver and three bronze.
Canadian tennis star Felix Auger-Aliassime is quarterfinal-bound. The Montreal native upset fourth-seeded Daniil Medevev in the third round of men’s singles on Wednesday, 6-3, 7-6 (5).
Auger-Aliassime, the 13th seed in Paris, fired nine aces and scored 73 points to Medvedev’s 59. Auger-Aliassime became the first-ever Canadian to reach the singles quarterfinals at an Olympic Games. He is the last Canadian standing in the men’s and women’s singles tournaments in Paris.
Medvedev, a Russian national, is competing as a neutral athlete in Paris. He had won each of his previous seven matches against Auger-Aliassime, but they all took place on hard courts. The Olympic tournament is being played on clay.
“Overall, I think with the conditions being hot, obviously he would make me work,” said Auger-Aliassime. “He was serving well as well, I was thinking ‘Look, just take every serve, don’t get too frustrated if you are not getting your chances on the return. If you are missing a few shots, do not get frustrated. Just focus on what’s good, focus on holding your serve’ which I was doing well.
I think that was the mentality.”
The 23-year-old tennis ace also joined forces with Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa to knock off the third-seeded American duo of Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz 7-6, 3-6, (10-8) to earn a berth in the mixed semifinals.
Dabrowski and Laval, Que.-native Leylah Fernandez were eliminated in the second round of the women’s doubles tournament with a 6-4, 6-0 loss to neutral athletes Mira Andreeva and Diana Shnaider.
For a second Games in a row, Canadian diver Caeli McKay finished one spot short of the podium, although this time with a different partner.
McKay, who is from Calgary, narrowly missed out on the bronze by a half point in women’s 10-metre synchronized platform when paired with Meaghan Benfeito in Tokyo.
It wasn’t as close this time, with a roughly five-point difference separating her and Ottawa’s Kate Miller from the third-place winners, Great Britain’s Andrea Spendolini Sirieix and Lois Toulson.
Still, it was just as heartbreaking for McKay, who held back tears as she remarked that fourth place is the hardest to accept at the Olympics.
The Canadians were in third place before the fifth and final round of dives, when Spendolini Sirieix and Toulson performed their best dive of the competition while McKay and Miller appeared to slip up on their synchronization. The Canadian pair finished with a total of 299.22 points over the five dives.
China’s Chen Yuxi et Quan Hongchan dominated the competition with 359.10 points. The pair from North Korea, Jo Jin Mi and Kim Mi Rae, finished second with 315.90 points, and Great Britain third with 304.38.
“Fourth place was heartbreaking by point-five, this was five points at least, it wasn’t as close. But I can’t really say much more,” McKay said.
“If we had these five dives and we were in fifth, I think we would feel maybe a little different than in fourth. Fourth is the hardest place to be at the Olympics. But I think we’re so proud.”
Meanwhile, Canadian boxer Tammara Thibeault, who had been considered a favourite in Paris, was eliminated in the Round of 16 for the women’s 75-kilogram weight class.
Thibeault was on a 25-match winning streak before she was defeated Wednesday by Cindy Ngamba of the EOC Refugee Team, having not lost a fight since she was eliminated in the quarterfinals at the Tokyo Games.
Thibeault came to Paris as the reigning world champion — a title won in 2022 before several nations boycotted the 2023 world championships to protest against the International Boxing Association.
“Obviously, the fight didn’t go the way I wanted,” said Thibeault, still visibly in shock. “It happens, it’s sports. There are days when (the punches) come out better than others. Today just wasn’t my day.”
Canadian triathletes said they weren’t fazed by delays spurred by concerns over the safety of the water of the Seine, as both the men’s and women’s events took place Wednesday.
Tyler Mislawchuk of Winnipeg finished ninth and Charles Paquet of Port-Cartier, Que. finished 13th in the men’s competition, while Emy Legault of L’Île Perrot, Que., Canada’s lone representative in the women’s competition, finished 35th.
Canada improved to 2-0 in women’s 3×3 basketball with a convincing 21-11 win over China (1-1). Canada, consisting of sisters Michelle and Katherine Plouffe, Paige Crozon and Kacie Bosch, will face Germany (1-1) on Thursday.
Alex Yee of Great Britain won the men’s triathlon in one hour 44 minutes and 33 seconds, which was initially scheduled for Tuesday, but was rescheduled to Wednesday due to poor water quality. Tyler Mislawchuk of Oak Bluff, Man., finished ninth in 1:44:25. Charles Paquet of Port-Cartier, Que., was 13th in 1:44:37.
Cassandre Beaugrand of France won the women’s triathlon in 1:54:55. Emy Ligault of L’lle Perrot, Que., finished 35th in 2:01:54.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2024.
