PARIS – From Canada’s first-ever fencing medal to a big day on the clay courts of Roland Garros, here are five things to know from Day 2 at the 2024 Paris Games:
TOUCHE!
Canada’s second medal of the Paris Olympics came from an unexpected place — the pistes of the scenic Grande Palais. That’s where Hamilton fencer Eleanor Harvey made a run through a gauntlet of higher-ranked opponents to claim the bronze medal in the women’s individual foil. Harvey, seeded 12th in Paris, defeated No. 5 Julia Walczyk-Klimaszyk of Poland in the Round of 16 and No. 4 Martina Favaretto of Italy in the quarterfinals before defeating another Italian, No. 3 Alice Volpi for bronze. It has been a brilliant start for Canada’s fencers. Harvey’s medal comes a day after Fares Arfa of Laval, Que., defeated the three-time defending Olympic champion en route to a run to the men’s sabre quarterfinals.
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CANADA’S ACES
A day after having their opening matches rained out, Canada’s tennis stars came out flying on Sunday. Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime beat American Marcos Giron and Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., defeated Denmark’s Clara Tauson to start things off with breezy straight-set victories. Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., needed a little more time before finally overcoming 2023 French Open runner-up Karolina Muchova in straight sets. The winning streak came to an end when veteran Milos Raonic, of Thornhill, Ont., fell to Dominik Koepfer of Germany 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (1).
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SOCCER SCANDAL CONTINUES
The fallout from a spying scandal continued to hang over Canada’s women’s soccer team as it scored a big 2-1 win over host France in Saint-Etienne. Vanessa Gilles scored the winner in the 12th minute of injury time to hush the crowd at Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium. Earlier Sunday, sports minister Carla Qualtrough said the federal government was withholding some of Canada’ Soccers funding. It’s the latest punishment after FIFA stripped Canada of six points, suspended head coach Bev Prisetman and two members of her staff for a year and fined Canada’s governing body around $313,000. The heavy penalty comes after an analyst was caught using a drone to spy on New Zealand team practices before the start of Olympic competition. Preistman, in a statement released Sunday, apologized to her players and said she was co-operating with an investigation into the incident. Canada will close out group play on Wednesday against Colombia in Nice.
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MIXED RESULTS
It was an uneven day for Canada as women’s rugby sevens competition got underway. Canada opened with a 17-14 win over Tokyo bronze medallist Fiji before being thumped 33-7 by defending Olympic champion New Zealand. Canada, looking to get back on the podium after placing third in the event’s debut at the 2016 Rio Games, plays its final preliminary-round game Monday against China. A win will guarantee Canada a spot in the quarterfinals
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IN THE BLACK
While Americans were dominating qualifying in women’s artistic gymnastics, Canada’s team was quietly putting together its best performance in some time. Led by four-time Olympian Ellie Black, Canada finished fifth in qualifying to advance to Tuesday’s team final for the first time since 2012. Black, from Halifax, also qualified for the all-around and vault finals. The Canadian men’s team will compete in the team final on Monday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2024.
© 2024 The Canadian Press