Favourite Canadian and Olympic Moments at the 2024 Olympics

[Skater Boy 15]

As we come down to the end of the  2024 Paris Olympics we have enjoyed the sweat and tears of athletes all over the world including Canada. They gave it their all. Sometimes it was sweet victory; other times devastating defeat and hopefully the enjoyed the journey.  What are your favourite moments?

[Skater Boy 15]

Since I created this topic I might as well start off.  

 

Seeing Summer McIntosh win 3 gold and a silver in the pool was so exciting to see a 17 yeara old succeed.   Believe it or not seeing Ellie Black comfort the French gymnast who was having a bad olympics was heartwarming.

 

The amazing victory of the 4x100m Men's relay was a Canadian moment when things stood still.  And seeing the pain of defeat in Sarah Mitton and Damien Warner showed the humanity.

 

There were some interesting characters.  Noah Lyles the brash, braggerd American.  The charming and hilarious Brit Tom Daley.  The coolness and class of Katie Ledecky. The spunk of Simone Biles

 

The athletes over came some shortcomings of Paris from the food to the beds to the heat athletes striving to be the best made for special moments.

[NearPup 4,169]

Best individual Canadian moment was the men’s 4x100m relay.

 

I also have a real soft spot for Summer’s win in the 200m IM and Harvey’s foil bronze. And of course Katie Vincent’s win setting the non-boycotted gold and medal records was very special.

 

I’m also still so happy that Deguchi won her gold medal, even though the final itself was not her best fight.

 

A dark horse for one of my favourite moment was actually seeing Philip Kim win gold, it was special to see someone who truly would only get one shot at this step up and perform at their very best. In hindsight Kim had the most dominant performance of any Canadian athlete not named Summer McIntosh or Ethan Katzberg.

 

Also a shout out to the women’s 7s team for doing so much better than expected.

 

Best non-Canadian moments were three moments involving the host nation: the men’s Rugby 7s final, Vaast winning surfing gold at how in Thaiti and Teddy Riner clinching his fifth gold medal.

 

Best non-Canada and non-host moments? Lydia Ko winning gold in women’s golf, Alfred winning gold in the women’s 100m and Sjostrom winning the women’s 100m free. And of course Lopez winning a fifth individual gold medal in a row.

 

The worst moment of the games for me was definitively the 3x3 semi final loss.

Edited August 11, 2024 by NearPup

[orangeman 2,876]

Just seeing this topic now, and even though I answered a similar topic in the general Olympic thread right at the end of the Games, I think it's good to revisit it with a couple of weeks separation. 

 

My favourite Canadian Olympic moments, in chronological order:

 

1. Rugby 7s girls beating France and then Australia to make the gold medal game. I have a few girls and women who play rugby in my family and we were texting back and forth furiously. The pace of the game and having multiple games per day is just so exciting. This sport has proven to be a perfect addition to the programme, and is a great way to start the Games (although having teams eliminated before the OC was a bad idea I hope they revisit). 

 

2. Eleanor Harvey getting bronze in fencing. I don't watch much fencing, but the timing of the bouts were perfect for me this time around. It was great watching the Canadians do better than they ever have before, with Harvey of course coming through for a medal. Then the team coming soooooo close to another one. The Grand Palais was an amazing venue, the fencers descending that staircase before their matches was beautiful. 

 

3. Always great watching Summer win, but I think the 200 IM was the best one because she had real competition and many sources didn't believe she would get the gold. 

 

4. Katzburg destroying the competition on his first throw. 

 

5. Men's 4x100. Completely unexpected. I was hooting and hollering among Americans at work in the middle of the day. This one has the best re-watch value, I've watched it at least 25 times since. 

 

6. Waking up very early to see Katie Vincent edge out gold unexpectedly to break Canada's non-boycotted gold and total medal records. 

 

Other highlights for other reasons: 

 

-Liendo and Kharun medalling in the same event, having two Canadians on the same podium for Canada since the 1970s I believe (and Kharun becoming the first male to win two swimming medals since the 90s). This one is tempered a bit because I really wanted Liendo to win gold. 

 

-W8 silver because I set my alarm to wake up in the middle of the night to see it and then went back to sleep. They didn't disappoint.

 

-Methot getting bronze in trampoline because I turned it on as I was getting ready for work with no expectations but seeing some trampolining. Great way to start the day. 

 

-Newman's bronze in pole vault because it was unexpected and fun to watch.

 

-Masse getting a medal in Paris. 

 

-Bronze in mixed doubles tennis. I don't watch a lot of tennis, but it was really fun to watch in Paris. 

 

Favourite non-Canadian moments:

 

1. France winning gold in men's rugby. What a way to start off the Games. The world needed to celebrate, and Paris did not disappoint.

 

2. Sara Sjostrom winning the 100m free (and later the 50 free). She just seems so nice and hard working. 

 

3. Marchant lighting La Defense Arena on fire for a week. 

 

4. The venues in general. Just gorgeous and iconic, including Tahiti. 

 

Worst moments:

 

1. 3x3 W basketball losses in the playoff rounds. 

 

2. Men's basketball loss against France.

 

3. Damien Warner.

 

4. Sarah Mitton. 

 

5. USA coming back to beat Serbia.

 

6. So many 4ths again, especially all the W relays. 50/50 chance they get converted to bronzes if China runs out of money to bribe WADA with.