Olympic newsletter: Canada wins its first 2 golds, plus Tuesday’s medal chances | CBC Sports

This is an excerpt from CBC Sports’ daily newsletter, The Buzzer. Subscribe here to get the latest on the Paris Olympics in your inbox every day.

Canada won its first two gold medals of the Paris Games today as a pair of favourites delivered historic victories on their sport’s biggest stage.

A few hours after top-ranked Christa Deguchi captured Canada’s first-ever Olympic judo title, swimming phenom Summer McIntosh earned her first (of perhaps many) Olympic golds with a dominant performance in her best event.

McIntosh won the women’s 400-metre individual medley by almost six seconds, adding to the silver she claimed in the 400m freestyle on Saturday. The 17-year-old world-record holder and two-time 400m IM world champion owned the race from start to finish, easily beating U.S. teenager Katie Grimes and American Emma Weyant.

Deguchi, a two-time former world champ ranked No. 1 in her weight class, prevailed in overtime in her gold-medal match. Deguchi’s opponent, South Korea’s Mimi Huh, defeated her in the final at this year’s world championships. But the Canadian looked like the better fighter here before Huh incurred her third penalty, automatically ending the bout.

Earlier today, Canadian divers Nathan Zsombor-Murray and Rylan Wiens took bronze in the men’s 10m synchronized event. Swimmer Mary-Sophie Harvey nearly grabbed Canada’s fourth medal of the day in the women’s 200m freestyle final, finishing fourth as Mollie O’Callaghan unseated fellow Australian Ariarne Titmus as Olympic champion.

Today’s trio of medals brought Canada’s total to five (2 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze) through the first three full days of competition.

Canada has more medal chances coming up on Day 4. Before we get to those, an update on the most compelling story of the Games:

The Canadian women’s soccer team actually has a good chance to advance

FIFA’s punishment for the drone-spying scandal seemed (at least to me) to make it highly unlikely the defending champs would reach the knockout stage. Canada was docked six points in the standings, the equivalent of two wins, meaning it can finish with no more than three points even if it runs the table in its group. As I’ve noted in previous newsletters, no team with fewer than four points advanced at the past two Olympic women’s soccer tournaments.

But this is a much different situation. A big reason why those other teams were cooked is that their opponents earned points against them. But, even though Canada has no points to show for its 2-1 wins over New Zealand and France, those teams obviously didn’t get any either. And Canada’s goals still count.

That leaves us with a strange sight: Colombia and France hold the two playoff spots in Group A despite having just three points each through two games (New Zealand has none). Meanwhile, zero-point Canada is a group-best plus-2 in the all-important goal differential tiebreaker while Colombia is plus-1, France is even and New Zealand is minus-3.

WATCH | Canada upsets France, setting up win-and-in scenario vs. Colombia:

So here’s the bottom line: Canada will advance if it wins its group finale against the 22nd-ranked Colombians on Wednesday. Regardless of what happens in the simultaneous France-New Zealand match, Canada’s superior goal differential will ensure it finishes in the top two.

Win and you’re in. All things considered, a great spot for the Canadians to be in after everything they’ve been through.

And Canada has another potential out. The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canada Soccer announced today that they’ve appealed the six-point penalty. A ruling is expected Wednesday, before Canada takes the field against Colombia at 3 p.m. ET in Nice.

Read more about how the defiant Canadian women are rallying around each other in this story by CBC Sports’ Myles Dichter.

Canadian medal chances on Tuesday

In chronological order:

Judo: Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard in the women’s 63kg event

The No. 2-ranked judoka in her weight class goes for her second Olympic medal after winning bronze in 2021. She went on to take silver at the world championships the following year.

Beauchemin-Pinard has a bye to the round of 16 in the one-day tournament. She’s in the 18th bout on mat 2, where action starts at 4 a.m. ET. The medal rounds begin at 10 a.m. ET.

Canada also has a medal hopeful in the men’s 81kg division, taking place at the same time. François Gauthier-Drapeau is ranked fifth in the world.

Gymnastics: Women’s team final at 12:15 p.m. ET

After placing sixth in qualifying, the squad will take a shot at Canada’s first-ever Olympic medal in women’s artistics gymnastics and the first by any Canadian since Kyle Shewfelt won gold in the men’s floor event in 2004.

The Canadian women won a surprising bronze at the 2022 world championships — Canada’s first-ever medal in a team competition. It helped that Olympic-champion Russia was banned from the worlds, but that’s the case here as well.

Four-time Olympian Ellie Black led the way for Canada in qualifying, placing ninth in the individual all-around standings to advance to that final on Thursday. Teammate Ava Stewart qualified for the all-around in 26th place. Black also advanced to this weekend’s vault final along with Shallon Olsen.

Simone Biles will try to help the United States win its third team title in the last four Olympics. The Americans took silver behind the Russian team in Tokyo after Biles withdrew from the final due to a dangerous mental block known as “the twisties.” The four-time Olympic gold medallist overcame an apparent calf injury Sunday to place first in individual qualifying and lead the U.S. to the top spot in the team standings.

Today, Canada finished eighth out of eight teams in the men’s team final. Japan clipped China for the gold. Félix Dolci and René Cournoyer will compete in the men’s all-around final on Wednesday.

Rugby sevens: Women’s medal rounds

Chloe Daniels scored with a minute left in a tied game and Canada stopped France’s final possession to stun the third-ranked hosts 19-14 in the quarterfinals today. Piper Logan scored two tries for the fifth-ranked Canadians, including a long run in the first half.

The victory guaranteed Canada will play for a medal on Tuesday. They’ll face second-ranked Australia in the semifinals at 10 a.m. ET, while the United States and top-ranked New Zealand meet in the other semi. The winners square off for gold at 1:45 p.m. ET. The losers play for bronze at 1 p.m. ET.

Canada won bronze at the 2016 Olympics, but did not get past the group stage in 2021.

WATCH | Canada’s 19-14 quarterfinal victory over France in women’s rugby 7s:

Women’s rugby sevens quarterfinals: France vs. Canada

Watch rugby sevens quarterfinal action as host nation France takes on Canada at Paris 2024.

Swimming: Kylie Masse and Ingrid Wilm in the women’s 100m backstroke final at 2:56 p.m. ET

Masse, a three-time backstroke world champion, had the fifth-fastest overall time in today’s semifinals. The 28-year-old will try for her third consecutive Olympic medal in the 100m after taking silver in 2021 and bronze in 2016. She was also the 200m silver medallist three years ago in Tokyo.

Wilm, 26, placed sixth in the semis to qualify for her first Olympic final. It’s expected to be a showdown between reigning Olympic and world champion Kaylee McKeown of Australia and world-record holder Regan Smith of the U.S.

Tuesday’s morning heats include Canadian men’s medal contenders Josh Liendo (100m freestyle) and Ilya Kharun (200m butterfly).

Some other things to know

The Canadian men’s basketball team has a big game Tuesday.

After opening with a win over two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Greece on Saturday, Canada faces 2021 bronze medallist Australia at 7:30 a.m. ET. Like Canada, the Aussies’s roster is rich in NBA players — including Patty Mills, Josh Giddey and Jock Landale, who combined for 56 points in a victory over Spain. Giddey played with Canadian star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the Oklahoma City Thunder before they traded him to Chicago last month.

The winner of the Canada-Australia game should advance. The top two in each group and the two best third-place teams move on to the quarterfinals in the 12-team event.

Australia is also the opponent for Canada’s Olympic 3×3 basketball debut at noon ET. The top-ranked women’s team of Kacie Bosc, Paige Crozon and twin sisters Katherine and Michelle Plouffe captured their second consecutive FIBA Women’s 3×3 Series title last year after winning six tour stops. Canada took silver at the FIBA 3×3 World Cup (formerly the world championship) in 2022. 3×3, played outdoors on a half court, made its Olympic debut in 2021 in Tokyo.

Today, Canada’s 5-on-5 women’s basketball team set a dubious record during a 75-54 blowout loss to France, which outscored the Canadians 23-2 in the second quarter. That’s the fewest points a team has ever scored in one quarter of an Olympic basketball game. Canada (0-1) will try to bounce back Thursday against (you guessed it) Australia.

Canada’s top two tennis players are doing double(s) duty.

Women’s No. 16 seed Leylah Fernandez defeated Cristina Bucsa of Spain in straight sets today, setting up a third-round match with 36-year-old German Angelique Kerber on Tuesday at 6 a.m. ET. Kerber, a three-time major winner who plans to retire after the Games, upset Japanese star Naomi Osaka in the first round.

Fernandez also advanced in doubles today, moving to the second round with teammate Gabriela Dabrowki. Their next match had not been scheduled at our publish time.

WATCH | Fernandez advances in singles and doubles, plus Djokovic eliminates Nadal:

Djokovic defeats Nadal; Canada’s Fernandez victorious in both singles and doubles

Tennis analyst Sharon Fichman breaks down the two wins for Leylah Fernandez, and pays tribute to what may have been the final showdown between icons Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Right after the Fernandez-Kerber match, 13th-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime will face Germany’s Maximilian Marterer in the men’s second round on the same court. Later, Felix teams up with Dabrowski for the first round of mixed doubles.

Auger-Aliassime and Milos Raonic were eliminated in the first round of men’s doubles today, while Bianca Andreescu lost her second-round singles match after appearing to injure her hand or wrist. Raonic’s Olympics are over too after he lost his singles opener on Sunday.

Also today on the clay courts of Roland Garros, men’s top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia eliminated 14-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal of Spain in what could be the rivals’ final meeting. Here’s more on today’s tennis action.

The Canadian women’s eight rowing team has some work to do.

The defending Olympic champions finished third in their opening-round heat today, sending them to the repechage on Thursday. As long as they don’t finish last in the five-boat race, they’ll advance to Saturday’s final.

Also this morning, the Canadian lightweight women’s double sculls team of Jenny Casson and Jill Moffatt placed second in their repechage heat to qualify for Wednesday’s semifinals. The final is Friday.

And finally…

Blame it on the rain? The Seine might be too dirty for Tuesday’s triathlon.

A whopping $1.5 billion US was spent cleaning up the notoriously polluted river to accommodate Paris organizers’ audacious plan to stage the triathlon and marathon-swimming events in it, along with Friday’s (equally audacious) floating opening ceremony. It poured that night, and Saturday too, degrading the Seine’s already dicey water quality.

Training for the swimming portion of the men’s triathlon was cancelled for the second straight day today, but officials said they’re confident the water will be fine for the competition on Tuesday at 2 a.m. ET.

Olympic triathlons consist of a 1.5-kilometre swim, followed by a 40K bike ride and a 10K run. Canadians Tyler Mislawchuk and Charles Paquet, ranked 19th and 21st in the world, are competing in the men’s event.

Read more about the problems with the Seine in this story by CBC Sports’ Karissa Donkin.

How to watch the Olympics

Live events are televised on the CBC TV network, TSN and Sportsnet. Or choose exactly what you want to watch by live streaming on CBC Gem or CBC Sports’ Paris 2024 website and app.

Highlights of CBC Sports’ digital coverage include Paris Tonight with host Ariel Helwani, live every night at 11 p.m. ET from Canada Olympic House in Paris; Rise and Stream with host Meg Roberts, identifying the key events to watch each day; Hot Takes with host Dale Manucdoc, highlighting must-see moments; and Paris Pulse with Meg and Dale, discussing trending stories from the Games.

You can also test your Olympic knowledge and win prizes on The Game, a nightly trivia contest with host Craig McMorris. Read more about CBC’s multi-platform Olympics coverage here.