With a medal count of 17 mid-week, and an estimated total of 21, Canadian athletes exceeded expectations during the final days of the 2024 Paris Olympics, coming away with 27 medals total.
This is Canada’s second largest in both gold medal count and total medals at a single Olympic Summer Games.
Camryn Rogers won a gold medal in the Women’s Hammer Throw, Canada’s first-ever medallist in this event, and making Canada one of few countries to win gold in both the mens and women’s events.
Alysha Newman snagged a bronze for her women’s pole vault performance, also setting a new Canadian record, clearing 4.85m.
Canadian weightlifter Maude Charron won her second straight silver medal in Women’s 59kg weightlifting, lifting 106kg in the snatch lift, and 126kg in the clean and jerk, for a total of 236kg.
Skylar Park won Canada’s first Olympic medal in Taekwondo in 16 years, taking a bronze.
Canada picked up another bronze finish for Sloan Mackenzie and Katie Vincent in the Canoe/Kayak 500m sprint.
Team Canada, consisting of Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney, and Andre De Grasse took gold in the Men’s 4x100m relay.
Two Canadian women won the silver medal in Beach Volleyball, Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson.
Katie Vincent won her second medal, taking gold in a photo finish in the Women’s 200m kayak/canoe sprint.
Marco Arop trimmed over a minute off his best time in the 800m to take second place and a silver medal, Canada’s first in this event since 1964. He was 0.01 off first place.
Canada’s final gold medal came in the Games’ newest category, “Breaking,” where Phil Wizard (Philip Kim) won all three rounds. Breaking is an urban dance style that traces its origins to the Bronx in New York City during the mid-1970s.
Over the decades, it has evolved into a global art form that requires great athleticism.
Kim not only won Canada’s first gold, but the first gold ever in this new Olympic sport.
Medallists Summer McIntosh and Ethan Katzberg represented the Canadian team during the closing ceremonies, a spectacular event that saw the Olympic flag pass, thanks to a showy performance by Tom Cruise, from Paris to Los Angeles.
Leslie Cholowsky, Editor