The calendar: Five days you might want to make sure you’re close to a TV during the Olympics
With 16 days of Olympics events before you, it’s hard to know which Canadian athletes to watch and when to catch them. But the following five days are worth clearing your schedule for. Trust us, you’ll want to be glued to the television.
Sunday: Podium possibility
Canada’s first medal of the Rio Games could come in women’s synchronized diving, on the three- metre springboard (3 p.m. all times ET). The event consists of five dives in just one round. Jennifer Abel and Pamela Ware, ranked fourth in the world, won silver at both the diving World Cup in February and the world championships in August 2015. Abel knows what it’s like to medal in synchronized springboard; she did so in London 2012 with Émilie Heymans, the first time Canada had ever reached the podium in that event.
Friday, Aug. 12: Rosie returns
The trampoline gymnast, and Cana- da’s flag bearer for Friday’s opening ceremony, was the only Canuck to earn gold in London 2012. MacLennan also reached the top of the podium at last summer’s Pan Am Games. A tough stretch with injuries (a concussion and another head injury within little more than a year) meant she finished fourth at last fall’s world championships. But MacLennan is back on the rise after a victory at the Canada Cup in March and the national championships in June. She will hope to peak at just the right time in Rio (2:40 p.m., final).
Saturday, Aug. 13: Lightning Bolt
Come for the men’s 100 metre heats (8:30 and 11 a.m.), stay for the Canadian medal possibilities. Usain Bolt and his Canuck competitor, Andre De Grasse, kick off one of the Olympics’ most talked-about events Saturday, racing for their spots in Sunday’s final. Canada also has a good shot at a few medals on the day, with the women’s eight rowing team (10 a.m.), swimmer Ryan Cochrane (9 p.m.) and Brianne Theisen-Eaton, a goldmedal hopeful in heptathlon (9:50 p.m.).
Tuesday, Aug. 16: Olympic finales
Adam van Koeverden, 34, and Mark Oldershaw, 33, will both paddle their way through their final Olympics races, competing in the kayak and canoe sprints, respectively. Van Koeverden, the most decorated Canadian paddler, will go for his fifth Olympic medal in his last race, the 1,000-metre kayak single (9 a.m.). He previously won bronze and gold at Athens 2004, silver at Beijing 2008 and silver in London 2012. Oldershaw is also looking to defend a spot on the podium (8 a.m.). He won bronze in the 1,000-metre canoe single in London.
Saturday, Aug. 20: Wonder women
Canada could be a contender for five medals in five events on the penultimate day of the Games. Athletes to watch include Brooke Henderson in the final round of women’s golf (6 a.m.); the women’s basketball team, which could be playing for a medal (bronze at 10:30 a.m.; gold, 2:30 p.m.); Mandy Bujold in boxing (1 p.m.); Catharine Pendrel in mountain biking (11:30 a.m.); and Melissa Bishop in the women’s 800-metre track final (8:15 p.m.). If the Canadian team wants to reach the 19-medal goal its Olympic committee set at the beginning of the Games, its female athletes will need to come up big toward the end of competition.