Olympic newsletter: Women's soccer team does it, Summer goes for another gold
CBC
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Swimmer Ilya Kharun won Canada's seventh medal today, taking bronze in the men's 200-metre butterfly on Day 5 of the Paris Games. It's the first Olympic medal for the teenage son of Cirque du Soleil acrobats, and the first by a Canadian men's swimmer since 2012.
But the biggest Canadian victory came in women's soccer, where the embattled Olympic champs beat Colombia to qualify for the quarterfinals after new information emerged in the drone-spying scandal.
More on that first, followed by Canada's medal opportunities on Thursday — including Summer McIntosh's shot at her second gold.
WATCH | Rise and Stream sets you up for Day 6 at Paris 2024:
All but counted out after being docked two wins for their coaches' drone-spying shenanigans, the reigning Olympic champs defeated Colombia 1-0 to earn an improbable spot in the quarterfinals.
Vanessa Gilles played the hero again. After scoring deep in injury time Sunday to upset France in another must-win game, the attack-minded defender headed in captain Jessie Fleming's pinpoint free kick early in the second half. "It feels incredible," Gilles said. "When adversity and pressure come, we rely on each other."
WATCH l Gilles scores game-winning goal as Canada tops Colombia:
Canada won all three of its games in Group A. But, due to FIFA's six-point penalty for the spying scandal involving suspended head coach Bev Priestman and two members of her staff, the Canadians placed second behind France. They'll face Germany, the runner-up to the United States in Group B, on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.
Canada needed to beat the Colombians to advance after losing an appeal earlier today. Emails released by FIFA indicated that Priestman was aware of spying, which may have been a common practice within Canada's women's and men's national teams for some time.
Here they are in chronological order. The best one is last.
Race walk: Evan Dunfee in the men's 20K at 1:30 a.m. ET
Dunfee took bronze in the 50-kilometre walk at the Tokyo Olympics before his preferred distance was dropped from the Games. But he remains a contender in this shorter race after placing fourth at last year's world championships.
Dunfee will also compete in the marathon race walk mixed relay next week with Olivia Lundman.
Graham Thomas sees a calm confidence and a deep hunger in his team.
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Raphaëlle Tousignant has spent her life beating the odds, first as a survivor of childhood bone cancer and later as a trailblazing Para hockey player.
Sarah Fillier spent her first two seasons with the New York Sirens accustomed to staring at empty blocks of seats across the bench during home games.
Canadian Paralympic Committee CEO Karen O'Neill acknowledges the team’s showing at the Milano-Cortina Winter Games wasn't the same as past years.
Canadian Para alpine skier Kalle Eriksson and guide Sierra Smith capped their memorable Paralympic debut with bronze in the men's visually impaired slalom on Sunday at the Milano-Cortina Games.
Canadian skip Kerri Einarson looked up Saturday and saw real people, instead of cardboard cut-outs, in the stands at Calgary's WinSport Event Centre. She heard the roar of the crowd instead of the sound of flushing toilets piercing the silence.
Aaron Judge doubled and Pete Crow-Armstrong and Brice Turang each had two hits as the United States beat Canada 5-3 on Friday night in Houston to reach the World Baseball Classic semifinals.
Canada's Natalie Wilkie captured her second biathlon gold of the Milano-Cortina Paralympics on Friday, winning the women's standing sprint pursuit for her fourth medal in as many events.
Canada made wheelchair curling history on Thursday as the first team at any Paralympics to complete round-robin play without a loss.
The winningest men's ski cross racer in history added to his total on Thursday.
Canada's Mark Arendz collected his 14th career Paralympic medal while teammate Brittany Hudak earned her fourth in Wednesday's standing cross-country skiing races at Milano Cortina.