Another medal in the pool has Canada starting to make waves
RIO DE JANEIRO — Canada’s Kylie Masse continued Canada’s rise to relevance in the pool.
A pair of bronze performances on Day 3 of the Rio Olympics gave Canada its first multi-medal day of the Games and kept it on pace for its overall goal of 19 podium finishes. Canada has one silver and three bronze medals so far, with three of those coming from the women’s swim team.
Masse, from La Salle, Ont., added to Canada’s fortunes in the pool by finishing tied for third in the women’s 100-metre backstroke. Canada, which hadn’t had a women’s Olympic swimming medal since the 1996 Atlanta Games, has sent a swimmer to the podium for three straight days.
The nations’ women athletes have been the story so far for Canada, accounting for all four medals.
Masse posted a Canadian record time of 58.76 seconds en route to her bronze. Her swim followed a bronze in the women’s 4x100-metre freestyle relay on the opening day of the Games and Penny Oleksiak’s silver in the women’s 100 butterfly on Day 2.
“From the performances like the relay and Penny last night, everyone’s done so well not just in the pool, but also the other Canadian athletes, it’s really inspiring to see everyone do well,” Masse said. It really gives each athlete hope for their own successes.”
Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu won gold in 58.45 seconds, Kathleen Baker of the United States took silver in 58.75 and Chinese swimmer Fu Yunahui tied with Masse to win a second bronze medal.
“I knew it was a tight race and I knew just from swimming prelims and semis, we’re all so close and a lot of tough competitors,” Masse said. “I knew it was going to come down to the touch and just trying to get my hand on the wall first.”
Elsewhere, Canada’s women’s basketball team improved to 2-0 after rallying for an exciting 71-67 victory over Serbia. Kia Nurse scored 25 points for the Canadians, who trailed by as many as 18 points in the third quarter before outscoring the Serbians 26-10 in the fourth.
And Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil and Toronto’s Daniel Nestor topped Portugal’s Gastao Elias and Joao Sousa 6-1, 6-4 to advance to the men’s doubles quarter-final in tennis.
But Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., was eliminated from the women’s singles tennis event with a 6-4, 6-2 second-round loss to German Angelique Kerber. Bouchard opened strong with an early break in the first set but Kerber earned a break of her own and the Canadian never recovered.
Bouchard still has a shot at a medal and an Olympic doubles title with Ottawa’s Gaby Dabrowski.
Golf makes its return to Olympic competition Thursday with Canadian Graham DeLaet serving as the defending champion. The native of Weyburn, Sask., was given the lofty distinction at the tournament draw Monday because Toronto’s George Lyon won gold in St. Louis Games in 1904 the last time the sport was recognized as an Olympic event.
DeLaet will be in the opening threesome along with Brazil’s Adilson da Silva and Byeong Hun An of South Korea. Da Silva is the lone Brazilian in the field while both of Hun An’s parents won medals in table tennis at the ’88 Seoul Games.