Canada claims gold in shootout victory
Christine Sinclair finally has her title.
The 38-year-old, long-time captain of the Canadian team has more international goals than any other player, male or female. But a major tournament championship had eluded her.
Until now.
Canada clinched the Olympic gold medal by winning a penalty shootout 3-2 against Sweden after a 1-1 draw in Friday’s final at the Tokyo Games.
It was the first major tournament title for the Canadians, who were the bronze medalists at London in 2012 and at Rio de Janeiro five years ago.
“I mean, it even looks prettier,” Sinclair said, holding up the gold medal.
Canadian goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe stopped Jonna Andersson in the shootout to make way for Julia Grosso, a 20-year-old player for the University of Texas, who beat Sweden goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl to win it.
The Canadian players mobbed Grosso on the field, and Sinclair raised her arms in victory before leaping atop her teammates.
“I honestly cannot even believe what just happened,” said Sinclair, who has 187 career goals. “For the last 40 days, we had a goal to come in here and change the color of the medal and we landed on top of the podium. Just such an honor to be part of this group.”
It was the second consecutive silver medal for the Swedes, who were also aiming for their first title in a major tournament. They lost 2-1 to Germany at Rio in 2016.
Stina Blackstenius gave Sweden the lead in the 34th minute, but Jessie Fleming equalized with a penalty kick in the 67th before the game went to extra time.
Sweden had won every match going into the final, opening the tournament with a statement-making 3-0 victory over the United States.
“I am trying to not feel it, wake up from this bad dream,” Sweden’s veteran goalkeeper Lindahl said. “Congratulations to Canada, they defended well. That was our gold to lose.”
A horse of course: A horse which refused to jump dashed the hopes of gold medal contender Annika Schleu in the Olympic modern pentathlon on Friday.
Schleu was in the lead after two of the five events — swimming and fencing — when she encountered the horse Saint Boy in the showjumping event. One of the quirks of modern pentathlon is that riders are given randomly assigned horses for the event. Bonding with them quickly is supposed to be part of the challenge.
Saint Boy, however, showed little interest in jumping the fences and eventually refused to move forward at all. Schleu was in tears.
“I tried but he did not want to go. I just started crying,” Schleu said. “I did not expect to make him go and that was the reason I was crying ... I felt the horse lacked confidence. But I tried my best.”
Netherlands tops Argentina for gold: The Netherlands defeated Argentina 3-1 on Friday night for the gold medal in women’s field hockey.
The Dutch rolled through pool play with a 5-0 record, outscoring their opponents 18-2. They won their quarterfinal 3-0 over New Zealand and their semifinal 5-1 over Britain.
Caia van Maasakker scored two goals for the Netherlands in the final. The Dutch settled for silver in 2016 and didn’t want another disappointment.
“I’m so proud of the team and every individual,” Netherlands forward Lidewij Welten said. “It’s been five years since the last Olympics, and we trained so hard, and I think in every tournament we showed that we’re the best. But showing it on this stage as well makes me really proud.”
Another win for Jamaica: The Jamaican women added the 4x100-meter relay title to their Tokyo Olympic collection after sweeping the podium in the 100-meter final.
The Jamaican team won in a national record 41.02 seconds. It was the second-fastest time in history and ended the U.S. team’s push for a third consecutive Olympic gold in the event.
The American team of Javianne Oliver, Teahna Daniels, Jenna Prandini and Gabrielle Thomas won silver in 41.45 and Britain took bronze in 41.88.
German coach accepts ban: The governing body of cycling suspended a German official for the rest of the year on Friday for using a racist slur during the Olympic men’s time trial.
The International Cycling Union said Patrick Moster accepted a ban through Dec. 31. Moster, the German cycling federation’s sports director, won’t be able to accompany his team to the road world championships in Belgium in September or the track worlds the following month.
The UCI ruled that Moster’s comments “were discriminatory and contrary to the basic rules of decency.”
Moster used the slur while a German rider chased opponents from Algeria and Eritrea during the race on July 28. The comment was heard on TV broadcasts.
The UCI said it “condemns all forms of racist and discriminatory behavior.”