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Olympic viewing guide: Andre De Grasse goes for gold, Penny's last shot – 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 at the Tokyo Olympics by subscribing here.

Canada won its fifth swimming medal on Day 8, with Kylie Masse taking silver in the women’s 200-metre backstroke to add to her silver in the 100m back earlier this week. That makes 12 medals overall for the Canadian team in Tokyo — three gold, four silver, five bronze. All by women. See the full medal standings and a detailed breakdown of Canada’s hardware here.

A mouth-watering Day 9 is coming up as the last night of swimming competition leads into track and field’s marquee event: the men’s 100 metres. Canada’s two biggest Summer Olympic stars, Penny Oleksiak and Andre De Grasse, can add to their already-impressive medal collections.

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Our daily Olympic viewing guide will focus on them. Plus, strong Canadian medal chances in diving and gymnastics, a key women’s basketball game, and crunch time in beach volleyball and men’s golf. Here’s what to watch on this super Saturday night/Sunday morning:

De Grasse has real shot to become World’s Fastest Man

The title is truly up for grabs at the Olympics for the first time since Usain Bolt blew away the field (and blew our minds) with his then world-record 9.69 in 2008 in Beijing. The GOAT added two more 100m gold medals before retiring in 2017. Christian Coleman then emerged as the clear favourite to take the first Olympic gold of the post-Bolt era when he won the world title in 2019, but the young American got himself suspended for Tokyo by missing several doping tests.

Since then, track fans have debated who might fill the vacuum in Tokyo. 2016 Olympic silver medallist Justin Gatlin seemed like a natural choice. He beat Bolt in his farewell race at the 2017 worlds, then took silver behind Coleman in 2019. But the 39-year-old finally ran out of gas at the U.S. Olympic trials, blowing a tire in the final and failing to qualify.

Bring on the cheers

Find live streams, must-watch video highlights, breaking news and more in one perfect Olympic Games package. Following Team Canada has never been easier or more exciting.

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As Tokyo approached, opinion coalesced around 26-year-old American Trayvon Bromell as the consensus favourite. He posted the two fastest times of the year in June — a 9.77 and a 9.80 that won him the U.S. trials final. Bromell also won the final Diamond League 100m race before the Olympics — on July 13 in England. De Grasse finished fourth there but was clearly saving something for a 4×100 relay race an hour later.

The Canadian was also fourth in an Olympic-calibre 100m field at the Diamond League meet in Monaco four days earlier. The top-five betting favourites for Tokyo (at the time) all lined up, and American Ronnie Baker won it in 9.91. South Africa’s Akani Simbine placed second in 9.98, and Italy’s Marcell Jacobs rounded out the podium in 9.99. De Grasse ran a 10 flat, while Bromell stumbled early and finished one spot behind him in 10.01. De Grasse arrived in Tokyo this week having run under 10 seconds with a legal wind just once this year — and that was back in April.

But here’s something we need to remember about De Grasse: He saves his best for the biggest stages. In his career, the 26-year-old has started five individual events at the Olympics or world championships. He’s reached the podium in every single one — bronze in the 100m at the 2016 Olympics and the 2015 and 2019 world championships, silver in the 200 at the ’16 Olympics and ’19 worlds. Big Race ‘Dre, indeed.

Now it looks like De Grasse is peaking at the right time once again. He placed first overall in the opening-round heats on Saturday with a personal season-best time of 9.91. Bromell, meanwhile, did not look like an Olympic favourite. The top three in each heat automatically advance, and he finished fourth in his — scraping into the semifinals as one of the three wild cards. Suddenly, this event looks even more wide open than we thought.

The semifinals begin Sunday at 6:15 a.m. ET, and De Grasse is running in the first of the three heats. The top two in each advance, plus the next two fastest runners. Assuming all goes well, De Grasse will try to become the first Canadian since Donovan Bailey in 1996 to win Olympic 100m gold when the final goes Sunday at 8:50 a.m. ET. Watch it live on the CBC TV network or stream it live on CBC Gem, the CBC Olympics app and CBC Sports’ Tokyo 2020 website. Read Bailey’s takes on De Grasse, Bromell and the rest of the men’s 100m contenders here. Watch a CBC Sports Explains video on the history (and possible future) of the race here.

One other Canadian is competing in a track and field final on Day 9: Django Lovett in the men’s high jump, which starts at 6:10 a.m. ET. He’s not expected to win a medal.

The top event in this morning’s finals was the women’s 100 metres. Elaine Thompson-Herah repeated as champion and led a Jamaican sweep of the podium with an Olympic-record 10.61. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, a gold medallist in 2008 and 2012, took silver at age 34, while Shericka Jackson got the bronze. Read more about the race and watch it here.

Penny Oleksiak may finish the night as the most decorated Canadian in Olympic history. (Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images)

It’s Oleksiak’s last chance to break Canadian Olympic medal record (for now)

The 21-year-old star heads into the final night of swimming competition with two medals in Tokyo and six in her career. That’s tied with speed skater Cindy Klassen and speed skater/cyclist Clara Hughes for the most ever by a Canadian Olympian.

Oleksiak has an excellent chance to get the record all to herself in the women’s 4×100-metre medley final tonight at 10:15 p.m. ET. In this race, each swimmer performs a different stroke. And Canada happens to have an Olympic medallist in almost all of them. There’s 100m butterfly champion Maggie Mac Neil, 100m and 200m backstroke silver medallist Kylie Masse and, of course, Penny. She won gold in the 100 freestyle in 2016, took bronze in the 200 free a few days ago and also swam a blistering anchor leg in the 4×100 freestyle relay to win silver for Canada last weekend. The other member of the team is no slouch, either. Sydney Pickrem took bronze in the 200 breaststroke at the 2019 world championships. This lineup won bronze in the 4×100 medley at that meet.

Canada also qualified for the men’s 4×100 medley final at 10:36 p.m. ET — the very last swimming race of the Games. But the team would need a miracle to medal.

Watch the final five swimming medal races starting at 9:30 p.m. ET on the CBC TV network, or stream them live on CBC Gem, the CBC Olympics app and CBC Sports’ Tokyo 2020 website.

Other Canadian medal chances on Saturday night/Sunday morning

There are two strong ones. In chronological order:

Diving

Jennifer Abel is a podium threat in the women’s 3m springboard final at 2 a.m. ET. The 29-year-old placed fourth in this event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She was also fourth at the most recent world championships, in 2019, and took bronze at the worlds in 2017 and 2011.

Abel has never won an individual medal at the Olympics, but she took silver in the 3m synchronized with Mélissa Citrini-Beaulieu last week and bronze in that event in 2012 with former partner Émilie Heymans.

Gymnastics

Simone Biles announced yesterday she won’t defend her Olympic title in the vault or compete in the uneven bars final on Sunday. The American superstar is still dealing with a mental block known in gymnastics as “the twisties” — a loss of orientation while performing moves in the air. It’s this sport’s version of “the yips,” which you might recognize from golf or the new season of Ted Lasso — except way more dangerous. The yips may cause you to miss a putt or a penalty kick, but the twisties can result in a catastrophic injury. They forced Biles to walk away from the team final and decline to defend her individual all-around title earlier this week. She’s still hoping to compete in the floor exercise and balance beam finals on Monday and Tuesday.

Biles’s absence from the vault final, which goes at 4:52 a.m. ET, gives Canada’s Shallon Olsen a better chance at the podium. She took silver in this event at the 2018 world championships and finished fourth in 2019.

Some other interesting stuff you should know about

The Canadian women’s basketball team can make its path easier. After losing their opener to Serbia and rebounding with a win over South Korea, the fourth-ranked Canadians play their final group-stage game at 9 p.m. ET vs. Spain (2-0). Barring a blowout loss and an unfavourable result in one of the other groups, Canada will likely advance to the quarter-finals. But winning their group would be big because it means avoiding the unbeatable U.S. team until at least the semis. Read more about the scenarios and a full preview of tonight’s game vs. Spain here.

It’s crunch time in beach volleyball. The group stage is over. It’s all single-elimination from here on out. Both the women’s and men’s rounds of 16 open tonight, and Canada has two women’s teams alive. Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson, who are ranked 16th in the world, play at 8 p.m. ET vs. No. 3-ranked Americans Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil. Canada’s top duo, reigning world champions Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes, play tomorrow night. They breezed through their three group-stage games without losing a set.

A dramatic final round is shaping up in men’s golf. With 18 holes to go, world No. 5 Xander Schauffele of the United States holds a one-shot lead over Hideki Matsuyama. They were the final pairing at this year’s Masters, where Matsuyama became the first Japanese player to win a men’s golf major, and Schauffele let a chance to grab his first major title slip as he tied for third. They’ll once again play together in the last grouping, along with Great Britain’s Paul Casey, who’s two shots behind Schauffele. Matsuyama is already a national hero for winning the green jacket, and a gold-medal victory on home turf would elevate him to another level in Japanese sports lore. Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy, who’s representing Ireland here, is also in the hunt — tied for fifth and only three shots off the lead. Canadians Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes are tied for 17th — seven shots off the lead and five behind the current bronze-medal position. The final round starts at 6:30 p.m. ET. Hughes tees off at 8:47 p.m. ET, Conners at 9:03 p.m. ET, and the final group at 10:09 p.m. ET.

How to watch live events

They’re being broadcast on TV on CBC, TSN and Sportsnet. Or choose exactly what you want to watch by live streaming on CBC Gem, the CBC Olympics app and CBC Sports’ Tokyo 2020 website. Check out the full streaming schedule here.

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Shane Pinto has a goal, three assists as the Senators roll over the Sabres – Sportsnet.ca

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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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NHL analyst gets absolutely roasted for ‘insanely rich’ take on Zach Hyman

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They say everyone is entitled to their opinion, but when you’re a member of the media and you share a truly awful take, you’re going to get called out for it.

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That’s what happened when NHL analyst/podcast host Andrew Berkshire decided to post a video on X (formerly known as Twitter) mainly attributing Zach Hyman’s success to the fact that he grew up “insanely rich.”

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The post came on the heels of the Oilers winger reaching the 50-goal milestone for the season and was rightly ripped apart by several notable colleagues, former players and fans in general.

In the video, which has been viewed more than 5.4 million times as of Wednesday morning, begins by stating that he has been in the sports media industry professionally since 2012 and that the industry “has to do a better job of telling truthful stories,” before discounting Hyman’s accomplishment.

“The story that’s being sold right now … is that, you know, if you work hard, if you stick to it, you can get there too, 31-year-old guy finally hits the 50-goal mark, harder worker, all that,” Berkshire said.

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“Yeah, great, except you’re missing the part of the story where Zach Hyman grew up insanely rich.”

Berkshire, who works as an analyst and host with the Steve Dangle Podcast Network, then details how Hyman’s parents bought a league to “guarantee him playing time,” and that he did “exclusive training that only a rich person … could afford.”

“This is a person that has had every single possible advantage to get where they are today,” Berkshire continued, before also bringing up the fact that Hyman has been fortunate enough to play on teams and lines with Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid most of his career.

While Berkshire does state that Hyman is a hard worker and brings grit when he plays, he also discounts it almost immediately.

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“Working hard, everybody works hard. You think every NHLer didn’t get there by working hard?” he asks. “Let’s not build this stupid narrative of ‘work hard, you’ll succeed.’ It’s just not true.

“There are people who’ve worked as hard as Zach Hyman their entire lives and never got a sniff of the American Hockey League, let alone the NHL because they didn’t have the advantages he had.”

Former Leafs defenceman turned NHL analyst Carlo Colaiacovo thought the whole take was ridiculous, posting the following: “Let me tell you something Andrew. You can’t buy your way to the NHL. You definitely can’t buy your way to having the career Hyman has had which includes scoring 50. Pretty ridiculous thing to say.”

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Retired NHLer Bobby Ryan was one of the first to weigh in, calling the opinion “purely false.”

“As someone who has maybe lived on both ends of the ‘financial edge’ I can say this is just purely false. Who cares, he accomplished a feat not many do and to downplay the way it’s reported is just wrong. You show up, do the work, good things happen,” Ryan posted on X.

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Jonathan Goodman, who claims he was Hyman’s personal trainer and tasked with getting the budding pro ready for the combine, had a glowing review of his former pupil’s work ethic.

“Yes, he had advantages. His family was wealthy and father obsessed with his success,” he said. “But the dude worked hard. Harder than anybody I’ve ever seen.”

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But, perhaps another former NHLer, Jason Strudwick said it best, replying to the video by asking: “Did Hyman not sign an autograph for you one time?”

 

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