Tokyo Olympics: Bronze in C-2 500-metre canoe sprint brings medal count to 23, the most of any non-boycotted Summer Games

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OLYMPIC EVENTS FOR AUG. 6

• Bronze in canoe sprint breaks Canada’s Summer Games medal record: Katie Vincent and Laurence Vincent-Lapointe won the bronze medal in women’s C-2 500-metre canoe sprint, the second canoe sprint medal for Vincent-Lapointe at the Tokyo Games. The win also brings Canada’s medal count up to 23, the most ever in a non-boycotted Summer Games.
• Canada women’s soccer team wins gold: Canada has won gold in women’s soccer after defeating Sweden in the final on penalties. This is a significant improvement from Rio 2016 and London 2012 where the team was unable to win a semi-final match and instead earned consecutive bronze medals. This time, Canada made it to the final by upsetting the United States. After the match, Christine Sinclair, the team’s captain, confirmed that this tournament would not be her last with the national team.
• Canada reaches podium twice in three races: Medals were up for grabs for Canadians in three athletics events this morning. In the men’s 5000-metres, Canada’s Mohammed Ahmed won a silver – the country’s first Olympic medal in the event. Ahmed had previously placed fourth in Rio 2016, narrowly missing the podium. Later on, Canada won bronze in the 4x100-metre relay, repeating their achievement in Rio 2016. This result gives Andre De Grasse his third medal in Tokyo after his 100-metre bronze and 200-metre gold, and his sixth overall Olympic medal. De Grasse is now tied as Canada’s second most decorated Olympian. Meanwhile, Gabriela DeBues-Stafford competed in the women’s 1500-metres but came just short of a medal with a fifth-place finish.
• Catch up on the latest flurry of Canadian medals: In case you missed it, Canada won a bunch of medals in the last little while. Last night, Evan Dunfee claimed bronze in the men’s 50-kilometre race walk, the first medal won by Canada in the event. Before that, Damian Warner brought home Canada’s fifth gold in the decathlon, cyclist Lauriane Genest earned bronze in women’s keirin, and Laurence Vincent Lapointe won silver in the C-1 200-metre canoe sprint.

OFF THE FIELD

• London, Ontario – City of Olympic champions: Four of Canada’s six gold medals have London’s fingerprints on them – with athletes from the city either topping the podium solo or contributing to a team gold. Swimmer Maggie Mac Neil kicked off London’s winning streak with her gold in the 100-metre butterfly. Two soccer players from Canada’s gold-medal women’s team are from London, as is recent record-breaker in decathlon, Damian Warner.
• IOC issues warning to Chinese medallists who wore Mao badges on podium: Two Chinese cycling athletes breached Olympic rules on political statements by wearing badges with the head of former Chairman Mao Zedong on the Tokyo Olmpics podium. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it received a “clarification” from the Chinese Olympic Committee over the political gesture of its athletes and issued warnings to the pair.
• Walkers slam IOC decision to scrap 50-kilometre race in Paris 2024: Race walkers on Friday slammed what they called a “terrible mistake” to remove the 50-kilometre race from the Olympics and accused the “suits” behind the move of not communicating enough with the athletes. The 50-kilometre distance has been part of the Games since 1936 but Friday’s race might have been the last at an Olympics. The event has been dropped from the schedule for Paris 2024 because there is no equivalent race for women.
• German cycling director suspended for racist remarks: 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.
• Diversity and multiculturalism debate in Japan: The Olympics were supposed to showcase Japan’s growing ethnic diversity, but the Games have also dragged into the international spotlight a domestic debate about whether the country can be both multicultural and Japanese. Japan’s team is its biggest on record and most diverse, including nearly three dozen athletes of mixed parentage and reflecting a gradual but profound change in a still largely homogeneous country.

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Olympic updates for Aug. 6

• Women’s golf: Canada’s Brooke Henderson shot 4-under 67, her best round of the Tokyo Olympics, to finish the women’s golf tournament at 4 under overall. The final round of the tournament was suspended because of an approaching thunderstorm.
• Women’s marathon: Malindi Elmore placed ninth in the women’s marathon. In doing so, she claims the best marathon finish by a Canadian woman at a non-boycott Olympics.
• Women’s track and field: Allyson Felix became the most-decorated woman in the history of Olympic track after winning bronze in the 400-metre race. She is currently tied with Carl Lewis, who also won 10 medals, as the most decorated U.S. track athlete.
• Men’s diving: Canada’s Nathan Zsombor-Murray put together an impressive six-dive performance in the preliminary round of the men’s 10-metre platform to punch his ticket to the semi-final.

The Olympic experience

Globe visual journalist Melissa Tait is in Tokyo capturing Canada’s athletes as they chase the podium.

Tokyo Olympics: Moments from Canada’s victory in women’s soccer

From The Globe’s Olympic team

At Tokyo Olympics, Shinto shrine gives athletes a different kind of competitive spirit

The wooden sign at the Kameido Katori Shrine contains four simple instructions: Bow twice. Clap twice. Bow once. Pray with all your heart.

For the more than 13 centuries since statesman Fujiwara no Kamatari came here to lay down a sword before a Shinto deity, the shrine has been a place of supplication. Generations have come to pray for victory – samurai, courtiers and, more recently, baseball dads and Olympians.

Among the handwritten ema – votive tablets – hanging inside the shrine today is one from swimmer Rikako Ikee. “I will get a gold medal in Tokyo 2020,” she has scrawled in black ink on the wooden tablet. “I will be a woman of my word.” Read Nathan VanderKlippe and Melissa Tait’s full feature here.

20 years of Christine Sinclair made Tokyo Olympic women’s soccer gold possible

Nine years ago in London, she had a performance for the ages. Three goals on three attempts. Every one of them gave Canada the lead. Each was better than the last. There are strikers they’ve built statues of who would give a couple of fingers to have had a game like that on a stage as big as the Olympics.

In a perfect world, that would be Sinclair’s Chastain moment. Instead, it’s Tokyo. She scored one goal here in six games. She missed a penalty. She was first in hearts and fourth or fifth on the depth chart. But over 20 years, she created the conditions that made this – the only gold ever won by a Canadian team that doesn’t play hockey – possible. Maybe now she can rest. Read Cathal Kelly’s full column here.

After years of ‘agony and defeat,’ Moh Ahmed takes Canada’s first-ever Olympic medal in men’s 5000 metres

Four years ago he said he was sick of being the man with the “best Canadian finish.” He wanted to be counted on the world’s stage. That’s where he found himself in Tokyo, the first Canadian to win an Olympic medal in the men’s 5,000 or 10,000 metres. Standing on the podium Friday night, Ahmed, who was born in Mogadishu and came to Canada at the age of 11, buried his head in his hands, disbelief washing over him, reports Nathan VanderKlippe.

“I’ve wanted that my whole life,” he said. He wanted it when he watched the 2004 Olympics, with Kenenisa Bekele and Hicham El Guerrouj battling for supremacy. He wanted it in Rio de Janeiro where his fourth-place finish left him shedding “tears of agony and defeat.” Most of all, he wanted it in Japan, when he could see the suffering in his competitors’ strides in the final minutes. He felt the pain, too, a hurt that had accumulated over years.

Keep up with the latest behind-the-scenes stories and images from the Olympics in our reporters’ notebook from Tokyo.

Tokyo Olympic events to watch tomorrow, Aug. 7

• In the morning: Catch Canada’s Michael Foley and Derek Gee in the men’s madison cycling medal event (3:55 a.m. ET), Andrea Seccafien in the women’s 10,000-metre (6:45 a.m. ET), and Canada in the 4x400-metre relay final (8:30 a.m. ET). The United States and Japan also play in the men’s baseball final (6:00 a.m. ET).
• In the evening: Catch the men’s marathon (6:00 p.m. ET) and the women’s basketball final (10:30 p.m. ET).

Check the full Olympic schedule for the latest event times and competitors.

The Tokyo Olympics: Essential reads

Catch The Globe’s visual explainer to speed climbing, a new event at the Games.

What athletes and teams should Canadians look out for? Consult our guide.

How did Canada’s swimmers use data to get stronger? Grant Robertson and Timothy Moore explain.