Fun facts about Canada's Winter Olympic team
CBC
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With the opening ceremony exactly one week away and some of its athletes already in Beijing, Canada today presented its full list of 215 competitors for the Winter Olympics. It's slightly smaller than Canada's teams for the last two Winter Games, but still the third-largest ever. With 109 men and 106 women, the Canadian Olympic Committee says this is the most gender-balanced squad it has ever sent to a Winter Games.
Here are some more fun facts about the team:
*The oldest woman and the oldest man are both curlers. Jennifer Jones, 47, is going for her second gold medal in the women's event, while John Morris, 43, tries to repeat as mixed doubles champ.
*The youngest athlete is 16-year-old halfpipe snowboarder Brooke D'Hondt. She was just shy of her first birthday when three of her current teammates — curlers Brad Gushue and Mark Nichols and short track speed skater Charles Hamelin — made their Olympic debuts in 2006. Gushue and Nichols are back for the first time since then, while Hamelin is set to compete in his fifth consecutive Winter Games.
*Hamelin can make history in Beijing. With five Olympic medals already under his belt, the 37-year-old needs one more to match long track speed skater Cindy Klassen for the Canadian Winter Olympic record. A sixth medal would also tie Hamelin with Andre De Grasse as Canada's most decorated male Olympian. A seventh would put him alongside Penny Oleksiak for most decorated Canadian Olympian ever.
*Five sets of siblings are on the team. Chloé and Justine Dufour-Lapointe, who shared the women's moguls podium in Sochi eight years ago, will compete against each other again. Christian and Scott Gow (biathlon) and Hannah and Jared Schmidt (ski cross) also participate in the same sport. Cassie Sharpe (ski halfpipe) and Darcy Sharpe (snowboard slopestyle and big air) are in different, though spiritually similar, sports. Same for 2014 ski cross gold medallist Marielle Thompson and her brother Broderick, who is an alpine skier.
On a less-fun note, the COC announced today that five members of the Canadian delegation were placed in COVID-19 protocols upon arrival in Beijing. "Delegation" includes athletes, coaches and support staff, and the COC declined to share the names. Read more about this here and more facts about the Canadian team here.
Jonathan David delivered that message in spectacular fashion last night with his brilliant second-half goal that all but sealed Canada's 2-0 win in a in a crucial World Cup qualifier in Honduras. The victory kept Canada unbeaten and alone atop the standings in the final round of its regional qualifying tournament, with only five matches left. A top-three finish gets the Canadian men's team into its first World Cup since 1986.
Heading into the game, there was a lot of anxiety about Canada potentially slipping down the table. The incomparable Alphonso Davies is out for this qualifying window with a heart issue, and Canada had a horrible track record in Honduras. Key midfielder Stephen Eustáquio was also missing last night after reportedly testing positive for COVID-19. But Canada showed once again that it now has the depth to weather these kinds of storms. Tajon Buchanan induced an early own-goal with some nifty moves, goalkeeper Milan Borjan made some big saves and David put the game away with his world-class effort (set up by a laser-like 40-yard pass by Liam Fraser) in the 73rd minute.
Though the 21-year-old Davies is the heart and soul of the team, David, who's only 10 months older, is a bona fide young superstar in his own right. With 12 goals in nine matches this season for the French club Lille, he ranks second in scoring in Ligue 1, which is one of Europe's "big five" leagues and features global superstars Kylian Mbappé and Neymar. In 25 career matches for the Canadian men's national team, David has 19 goals — already just three off the all-time lead.
Canadian soccer fans were still giddily rewatching David's gorgeous goal last night when more good news arrived: fourth-place Panama lost to Costa Rica, increasing Canada's cushion for staying in the all-important top three to five points. A win is worth three and a draw is worth one, so that's pretty sizable with only five matches left.
The next one is big — a showdown with the second-place United States on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET in Hamilton, Ont. The Americans stayed one point back of Canada last night by beating El Salvador 1-0 at home. Third-place Mexico, which is two points behind Canada, kept pace with a 2-1 road win in Jamaica.
Canada's third and final match of this window is Wednesday night at El Salvador, which ranks seventh in the eight-team standings (ahead of only Honduras). The final window, in late March, sees Canada visit Panama and fifth-place Costa Rica and host sixth-place Jamaica. Barring some catastrophe, Canada's chances of reaching the World Cup in November in Qatar are looking very good. Read about how the team was able to thrive without Davies and Eustáquio last night in this piece by soccer expert John Molinaro.
