Olympic viewing guide: Defiant Canadian women’s soccer team controls its own destiny | 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.

The Canadian women’s rugby sevens team won a surprising silver medal today, upsetting second-ranked Australia in the semifinals before giving No. 1 New Zealand all it could handle in the gold-medal match.

The fifth-ranked Canadians grabbed the lead right before halftime when Alysha Corrigan picked off a sloppy New Zealand offload and scampered in for a try. But the Kiwis answered quickly in the second half and scored again with two minutes left to win 19-12 and repeat as Olympic champions.

Canada’s men’s basketball team scored a big win too, beating 2021 bronze medallist Australia to help clinch a spot in the quarterfinals.

Not everything went Canada’s way. Swimmer Kylie Masse just missed her third consecutive Olympic medal in the women’s 100m backstroke, placing fourth, while second-ranked judoka Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard was eliminated before the medal bouts.

Canada finished fifth in the women’s gymnastics team final, matching its best-ever Olympic result. Simone Biles powered the United States to victory for her fifth Olympic gold — and possibly the sweetest after her stunning withdrawal from the 2021 final led to the Americans’ losing the title.

Through four full days of competition in Paris, Canada has a well-balanced six medals: two gold, two silver and two bronze.

There will be a couple more medal chances on Day 5. But all eyes are on a must-win match for Canada’s defiant women’s soccer team. Let’s start our daily viewing guide there.

The Canadian women’s soccer team controls its own destiny again

Embattled, exhausted and left for dead in the wake of a devastating penalty for the drone-spying scheme involving members of their coaching staff, Canada’s players found a lifeboat by deciding to just play for each other.

That was the core message in centre-back Vanessa Gilles’ impassioned speech after she scored deep in injury time to give Canada a miraculous upset of host France on Sunday that kept the Olympic champions’ playoff hopes alive.

Knowing that any result except a win would eliminate them from the tournament due to the six-point penalty issued by FIFA, Canada rallied from a 1-0 second-half deficit to beat the world’s No. 2-ranked team on its home turf. Captain Jessie Fleming scored the equalizer before Gilles banked one in off the post in the 12th (!) minute of stoppage time for the improbable 2-1 victory. 

“We haven’t slept in the last three days. We haven’t eaten. We’ve been crying,” an emotional Gilles told a sideline interviewer. “What’s given us energy is each other… our determination, our pride to prove people wrong, our pride to represent this country when all this s— is coming out about our values.

“We’re not cheaters. We’re damn good players. We’re a damn good team.”

WATCH | Gilles defends Canadian team following France win:

One of the saddest things about Dronegate is that it placed another demoralizing obstacle in front of a group of players that had already faced too many of those.

Since thrilling the country with their surprising gold-medal victory in Tokyo, the Canadian women have spent much of the last three years battling their broke (and broken) national federation for an equal-pay deal that has still not arrived. The labour strife probably contributed to last summer’s group-stage flameout at the Women’s World Cup, as players accused Canada Soccer of failing to provide the resources needed to compete at the highest level.

And now this. Head coach Bev Priestman, assistant Jasmine Mander and staffer Joey Lombardi were kicked out of Paris for their involvement in one of the dumbest schemes imaginable. Flying an illicit drone through one of the most heavily guarded airspaces on the planet is pretty much asking to get caught. And for what? To spy on New Zealand, arguably the worst team in the tournament, for a group-stage game?

Canadians don’t get caught cheating this brazenly very often. So a lot of people are comparing this to Ben Johnson’s notorious failed doping test in 1988. But steroids, for all their downsides, actually give you an edge. Drone footage? Yeah, not so much.

Those coaches betrayed the players with their reckless decisions. But they also lit a fire under them. That’s what struck me as I watched Gilles’ spine-tingling call to arms, which might go right up there with Phil Esposito in the 1972 Summit Series and Wayne Gretzky at the 2002 Winter Olympics when we’re talking about galvanizing Canadian sports rants.

WATCH | Canada upsets France to keep gold-medal defence alive:

Canadian women’s soccer team battles back to beat France 2-1 amid scandal

After being swept up in a drone-spying scandal, the Canadian women’s soccer team battleed back to beat France 2-1 and keep their Olympic hopes alive.

If, that is, the Canadian women advance to the quarterfinals. They can do that by defeating Colombia in their group-stage finale on Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET in Nice.

A win would give Canada a perfect 3-0-0 record and three points in the Group A standings after the six-point deduction, guaranteeing them a top-two finish with their favourable goal differential. A tie is no good. That’s worth one point, and Colombia and France already have three. So do several teams in the other two groups, meaning Canada would not have a shot at the two wild-card spots.

There’s also a chance that the penalty will be overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. A ruling on Canada’s appeal is expected before kickoff.

Canada is favoured to beat the 22nd-ranked Colombians, so the most compelling story of the Paris Games could have a few more chapters left. The Canadians would still have to win three more games to capture their fourth consecutive Olympic medal, and three in a row to successfully defend their gold.

That’s a lot for a team that has already been through a lot. But Gilles put the word out: You want our title? Come and take it.

Canadian medal chances on Wednesday

In chronological order:

Diving: Caeli McKay and Kate Miller in the women’s 10m synchronized final at 5 a.m. ET

McKay and Miller will try to follow up Monday’s 10m synchro bronze by Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray. That was Canada’s first Olympic men’s diving medal in 16 years.

Three years ago in Tokyo, McKay and then-teammate Meaghan Benfeito missed the podium in this event by just half a point as McKay bravely competed on a badly injured ankle. She came back to take bronze in the individual 10m event at the 2023 world championships, but McKay and Miller didn’t crack the top five in the synchro at the last two worlds.

Swimming: Ilya Kharun in the men’s 200m butterfly final at 2:37 p.m. ET

The teenage son of Cirque du Soleil gymnasts placed fourth at last year’s world championships, missing the podium by just 0.16 of a second. Kharun swam the third-fastest time in today’s semifinals, behind world-record holder Kristof Milak of Hungary, the defending Olympic champion, and French star Leon Marchand, the 2023 world champ.

Marchand, who won his first Olympic gold in the 400m individual medley on Sunday, will also be a top contender in Wednesday’s 200m breastroke final. He swam the best time in today’s semifinals.

Canada’s Josh Liendo failed to qualify for the men’s 100m freestyle final after placing 11th in the semis today. He took bronze in this event at the 2022 world championships.

Summer McIntosh is back in the pool for the women’s 200m butterfly heats at 5:46 a.m. ET and, presumably, the semifinals at 2:45 p.m. ET. The back-to-back world champion is favoured to win her second gold of the Games and third medal. The final is Thursday.

Some other things to know

It was a good day for Canadian basketball.

The men’s team’s 93-83 victory over Australia led to Canada clinching a spot in the quarterfinals after some other results went their way. Canada (2-0) will look to secure the top spot in Group A when it faces Spain (1-1) on Friday. The top two in each group and the two best third-place teams advance.

RJ Barrett scored a game-high 24 points today for Canada, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dillon Brooks had 16 apiece.

The Canadian women’s 3×3 basketball team started its push for gold today by beating Australia 22-14. Twin sisters Katherine and Michelle Plouffe combined for 18 points for top-ranked Canada, which continues group play Wednesday at noon ET against China.

The 5-on-5 Canadian women’s team plays Australia on Thursday after getting blown out by France in their opener on Monday.

Felix Auger-Aliassime is Canada’s last hope in singles tennis.

The No. 13 seed melted Germany’s Maximilian Marterer 6-0, 6-1 on a brutally hot day in Paris to advance to the third round of the men’s bracket. He’ll face No. 4 Daniil Medvedev, one of 15 Russians competing as “neutral” athletes in Paris. That’s the third match of the day on the Simonne-Mathieu show court, where action starts at 6 a.m. ET.

Auger-Aliassime also won his mixed doubles first-round match today with Gabriela Dabroswki. They play again Wednesday against Americans Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz.

Canada’s last women’s singles player fell today when 16th-seeded Leylah Fernandez lost in the third round to Germany’s Angelique Kerber, a three-time major winner who plans to retire after the Games. Fernandez remains alive in women’s doubles. She and Dabrowski play their second-round match Wednesday around 8:30 am. ET.

Elsewhere on the scorching clay courts of Roland Garros today, the second-seeded Gauff lost her cool with the chair umpire and was eliminated in the third round of the women’s draw, while the Spanish duo of Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the men’s doubles quarterfinals. Read more about today’s tennis here.

Two Canadians are in the men’s gymnastics all-around final on Wednesday.

Félix Dolci placed 22nd in qualifying and René Cournoyer was 26th to help Canada reach Monday’s team final, where it finished eighth. Cournoyer placed 12th in the all-around at last year’s world championships, while Doli became the first Canadian in 60 years to win the men’s all-around gold at the Pan Am Games. The competition starts at 11:30 a.m. ET.

The women’s all-around final is on Thursday. Canada’s Ellie Black qualified in ninth place and Ava Stewart made it in 26th.

The Seine was too dirty for today’s triathlon.

Concerns over water quality in the river, which underwent a $1.5-billion cleanup for the Games, led to the postponement of the men’s event. It was rescheduled for Wednesday at 4:45 a.m. ET, following the women’s event at 2 a.m. ET, pending further water tests. Friday is the backup date. The marathon swimming events are also supposed to be held in the Seine near the end of the Games.

Canada’s men’s triathletes are Tyler Mislawchuk and Charles Paquet — ranked 19th and 21st in the world, respectively. Emy Legault, 48th, is the lone Canadian woman.

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.