Canadian Success in the City of Love and Lights
The City of Lights delivered a spectacular blend of athleticism, culture, and controversy during this year’s Summer Olympics. Amid all the backlash from the notable opening ceremony on the Seine to the city’s environmental ambitions to go air-conditioning free, Canada shone brightly. The Canadian team proudly brought back home a historic 27 medals—nine gold medals, seven silver medals, and eleven bronze medals. Adding to the nation’s triumph, our Paralympic team achieved an impressive haul of 29 medals.
The Games kicked off with a splash. Athletes were paraded on floats across the Seine as they descended the river complete with dazzling performances. Celine Dion stunned the crowd with her ‘L’hymne à l’amour’ performance, while onlookers got a glimpse of a mystical floating silver horse. However the ceremony did not impress everyone. Many later took to the internet to criticize the segment featuring drag queens feasting around a dinner table, which some thought looked eerily similar to DaVinci’s The Last Supper painting. With controversy swirling in the summer air, the pressure was on for the athletes to make a more positive and lasting impression.
Canada started off strong. The 17-year-old Canadian sensation, Summer McIntosh, made her mark by securing a silver medal in the women’s 400 metre freestyle. She made several more waves in the pool, securing three additional gold medals and setting a new Olympic record in the women’s 200 metre butterfly. Christa Deguchi earned Canada’s first gold medal in judo on day three of the Games. The Canadian duo Nathan Zsombor-Murray and Rylan Wiens made history, bringing home Canada’s first ever medal in the men’s 10m synchronized diving event. As the summer games drew to a close, Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse led our 4×100 metre relay team to another gold.
Despite the incredible talent and athleticism put on display, the summer games brought quite a bit of chuckles as well. Australia’s breakdancer and university lecturer, Rachael Gunn (aka ‘Raygun’), gave the audience an unforgettable and meme-worthy performance. Her epic kangaroo-inspired moves took the internet by storm. Despite her entertaining performance, the International Olympic Committee later announced that breakdancing will not be returning as a sport in the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics marking the end of the sport’s brief but memorable Olympic stint.
Another hiccup in Paris was the city’s push to host the most sustainable Olympics ever. Organizers aimed to make most meal options plant-based, which stirred a considerable amount of debate among the teams. Additionally, in a bid to go green, air conditioning was briefly unavailable to athletes, adding to the discomfort of many. This green initiative unfolded against the backdrop of intense competition for world number one between the US and China, leading to lively discussions about sportsmanship involving Western nations and their Chinese rivals.
Notably absent from the Games was the Russian flag. In response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine and doping scandal, Russian athletes were banned from competing under their national flag. Instead, only 15 Russian athletes participated as Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN), a stark contrast to the 335-strong delegation sent to Tokyo in 2021.
A Nod to the Paralympics
As the Olympics wrapped up, anticipation began to build for the Paralympic Games. The Paralympics promised to deliver incredible stories of resilience and determination. This year, the Canadian Paralympic team enjoyed its best Games following the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Paralympic swimmers Nicholas Bennett and Aurelie Rivard made a huge splash in the pool, bringing back home three medals each.
An even briefer recap
With the memories of the Games still fresh, one thing is clear: the summer of 2024 will be remembered for all those performances both in and out of the Olympic venue that made us cheer, laugh, and grip onto our chairs. Missteps and controversies aside, the Olympics and Paralympics were an impressive display of perseverance, talent, and our love for memes.
