Not even three years ago, Tokyo staged a delayed and spectator-less Summer Olympic Games. While there weren’t any cheers from the crowd, athletes still managed to put on a show.
In the case of Canada’s selected competitors, not only did they achieve a medal haul unmatched since the 1980s, but viewership from the country also managed to hit an all-time high for CBC.
With Paris 2024 on the horizon, we’re looking at Canada’s last Summer Olympics outing, seeing where the nation found success and some sports in which the country will be looking to do better this year.
Seven Gold, Seven Silver, and Ten Bronze Medals
Canada’s advancements in athletics were put on full show in Tokyo. The seven gold, seven silver, and ten bronze medals marked Canada’s largest medal haul since the 44 of 1984 and the most gold medals since 1992.
Better still, and again on par with the success of Barcelona in 1992, Canada landed 11th on the Olympic Medal Table, which also marks the best finish since the Los Angeles Games in 1984.
While silver medals in the women’s 4x100m swimming freestyle relay and the women’s 3m synchronized springboard came first, the big breakthrough came in the women’s 100m butterfly, with Maggie Mac Neil taking gold.
Over the next couple of weeks, six more gold medals were added to the collection, coming across many different disciplines, as follows:
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Maggie Mac Neil – Women’s Swimming 100m Butterfly
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Maude Charron – Women’s Weightlifting 64kg
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Women’s Eight Rowing Team
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Andre De Grasse – Men’s 200m
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Damian Warner – Men’s Decathlon
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Women’s Soccer Team
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Kelsey Mitchell – Women’s Cycling Sprint
While the running sprints are always among the most popular events at the Summer Olympics, for Tokyo 2020, it was the Women’s Soccer Final that drew in a record-breaking Canadian audience.
Not only has women’s soccer been surging in popularity of late, both as a spectator sport and in the markets of the sport betting Ontario residents can utilize, but Canada’s women’s team also ranks among the very best in the world.
They attended in full force, getting through the group stage with one win and two ties. In the knockout stage, Canada truly stepped up, beating Brazil on penalties, ousting the feared United States 1-0, and then conquering Sweden in the Gold Medal Game.
Joining the gold medals were seven finishes second on the podium and ten in third. These are where else Canada managed to add to its impressive collection in Tokyo:
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Women’s Swimming 4x100m Freestyle Relay (Silver)
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Women’s Synchronized Diving 3m Springboard (Silver)
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Women’s Swimming 100m Backstroke (Silver)
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Women’s Swimming 200m Backstroke (Silver)
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Women’s Canoeing C-1 200m (Silver)
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Men’s 5,000m (Silver)
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Men’s 4x100m Relay (Silver)
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Women’s Judo 57kg (Bronze)
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Women’s Softball (Bronze)
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Women’s Judo 63kg (Bronze)
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Women’s Swimming 200m Freestyle (Bronze)
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Women’s Rowing Coxless Pair (Bronze)
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Women’s Swimming 4x100m Medley Relay (Bronze)
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Men’s 100m (Bronze)
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Women’s Cycling Keirin (Bronze)
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Men’s 50km Walk (Bronze)
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Women’s Canoeing C-2 500m (Bronze)
Andre De Grasse (sprinting), Kylie Masse (swimming), and Penny Oleksiak (swimming) were particularly impressive, bringing back three Olympic medals each.
Where Canada May Seek to Improve in Paris
Take nothing away from the incredible efforts of Canada’s athletes in the delayed 2020 Summer Games, but improvement is always the goal, and there are some clear sports to target for this when Paris 2024 arrives.
For Tokyo, Canada only made the cut for the women’s five-on-five basketball tournament. Despite boasting a strong line-up, Serbia and Spain proved to be too much in Group A, which saw Canada bow out after three games.
Now, given that Canada is in such close proximity to the NBA and WNBA and contributes some world-class players who’re good enough to warrant backing in the basketball betting, an improved outing in 2024 should be expected.
In Paris, Canada will be competing in the men’s and women’s five-on-five tournaments and will likely be eyeing up the podiums.
Boxing is another popular sport in which Canada will be hoping for more success. With three gold, seven silver, and seven bronze medals to date, boxing is one of Canada’s top sports at the Summer Games.
For Tokyo, Canada sent five boxers, but none of them returned with a medal. This year could, and should, be different – especially if the recent Pan-American Games are anything to go by.
Of the 13 amateur pugilists sent to Chile, six returned with medals. Wyatt Sanford and Tammara Thibeault walked away with gold medals, while Junior Petanqui, Bryan Colwell, McKenzie Wright, and Charlie Cavanagh scored bronze.
Canada performed very well at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, and now, the country can look to push on and achieve even more glory in Paris this year.
*Credit for all images in this article belongs to Alamy*
