Breaking down Canada’s Olympic Run, with George Le Gresley

SPORTS with George Le Gresley

As in most years, events before the “official opening ceremony” are held so that all the events can fit into the Olympics’ tight schedule Here’s what you can expect from Canadian athletes as the action gets underway in a week and a half.

July 24: Men’s Football (Soccer) and Men’s Rugby 7’s begin their qualifying round where unfortunately Canada didn’t qualify

July 25: Women’s Archery begins and Canda’s Virginie Chenier is entered. Men’s Archery starts their ranking round with Eric Peters, whose hometown is in Kitchener Peters could be in the running for a medal, as he earned a silver medal last year at the 2023 World Archery Championships. Also in Women’s Football, Canada’s reigning Gold Medal champions start their matches against New Zealand.

July 26: Is devoted to the opening ceremony which begins at 1:30 PM here in Canada

July 27: The Canadian Men’s Artistic Gymnastics qualifications will feature a full team since the 2008 games

Badminton Mixed Doubles starts their group play as well on July 27th and hopefully, the pair of Michelle Li and Alex Bruce can move from their 4th place finish at the London Olympics to a podium finish in

Paris.

Men’s Basketball begins on the 27th and Canada starts their first group play game against Greece Canada hasn’t earned an Olympic medal since 1936 and this year’s squad, led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and this year’s runner up for the NBA’s MVP award, could be a contender for a medal. The team is full of NBA players, including Jamal Murray, Toronto Raptors, RJ Barrett and many more

Men’s and Women’s Beach Volleyball starts up and Canada hasn’t won medal since the team of John Child and Mark Heese in the 1996 Atlanta games. Although the teams have plenty of international experience, they are unlikely to reach the podium.

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July 5–U15 Robinson loses 22-10 to Burgessville Orioles

July 8 – U13 PFD Robinson loses 18-3 to PDP Lightning

July 8– U13 Buitenwerf loses 18-3 to Cambridge Cougars

July 8 - U11 Turnbull loses 11-7 Norwich

July 9 – U15 Munro (Paris) wins 14-1 to U15 Robinson (Paris)

July 9– U11 Turnbull wins 18-16 against Cambridge Cougars

July 11 – Team 6 wins 18-4 against Team 2

Men’s Canoe Slalom is a new event that might be entertaining. It’s comprised of 4 racers going down a course, where contact between boats is allowed and each racer has to do a kayak roll Sounds like a cross between roller derby and a boat race. Canada’s Alex Baldoni and Lois Beteridge both won a silver medal at last year’s Pan Am games in Santiago and may contend at this event.

Women’s Cycling Road starts up and Canada hasn’t reached the podium since Clara Hughes did in 1996.

Women’s Synchronized 3 metre diving and Canada has a very young team that will gain some experience.

Equestrian Team and Individual Dressage is said to be similar to an equine ballet. The event judges how the horse and rider do through a prearranged movements at different speeds. My apologies if my description doesn’t totally hit the mark

Handball and Field Hockey Canada hasn’t qualified for these two events.

Judo kicks off and Francois GauthierDrapeau might be a contender as he is ranked 5th in the world in the 81 kg category.

Rowing for Canada has had a history of great finishes. Look to the Canadian team to be very competitive in these events

Shooting for Canada has not been too successful The last time Canada medalled was when Linda Thom won gold for the 25 m pistol event in 1984

Skateboarding is a new event this year and features Fay De Fazio Ebert, the 14-year-old phenom who won gold at last year’s Pan Am games Fay has competed in this event since the age of 9 and definitely an Olympic contender