Olympics Overnight: Canadian women add two more medals, track relay teams moving on, 14-year-old Chinese diver puts on a clinic

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This article was published 05/08/2021 (1544 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rise and shine, Olympic fans. Here’s what you missed overnight and need to know about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics this morning.

For all the Summer Games content, visit our Olympics page here.

Get that coffee brewing — there’s plenty of Day 13 action to catch up on this morning.

Laurence Vincent-Lapointe won silver in the 200-metre canoe sprint and Lauriane Genest won bronze in the women’s kierin, pushing Canada’s medal count to 17 — 15 won by women, and two won by men named Andre De Grasse.

(Update: Canadian Damian Warner won the first ever Olympic gold medal for Canada in decathlon at the end of Day 13. His gold pushes Canada’s medal count to 18.)

Meanwhile, Canada battled its way into the women’s 4×400-metre final, while the men qualified for the 4×100-metre final.

In other news, the gold medal matchup in women’s soccer between Canada and Sweden has been rescheduled due to heat concerns.

Scroll through for more highlights from Toyko.

Quebec’s Lauriane Genest sprints to bronze in the women’s keirin in track cycling

Bleary-eyed Canadians across the country awoke this morning to an alert that Canada had placed third in the women’s keirin. I think it’s safe to assume that at least some of those bleary-eyed Canadians, including myself, were pleased by this news despite having a vague idea of what exactly women’s keirin is.

I’ll save you a Google search.

The keirin, which originated in Japan, is a six-lap race of the 250-metre track.

The pace gradually increases over the first three laps to about 50 kilometres per hour, then quickens to a lightning sprint for the final three.

Whoa!

Genest, a 23-year-old from Levis, Quebec, was part of a tightly-packed group of cyclists during the final lap on Thursday, before crossing the finish line just 0.148 seconds behind the winner, Shanne Braspennincx of the Netherlands. Andrews of New Zealand took silver.

Genest will take home Canada’s first medal from the velodrome at the Tokyo Olympics.

A long and tumultuous journey to Olympic silver for Laurence Vincent-Lapointe

“Man, I’m lucky to be here,” an overjoyed Vincent-Lapointe told reporters after winning silver in the first-ever Olympic women’s 200-metre canoe sprint. “After everything that happened to me, I’m at the games.”

The 29-year-old from Trois-Rivières, Quebec, dominated the sport for years, winning 11 world championships between 2010 and 2018, and gold at the Pan American Games in Toronto in 2015.

In 2019, Vincent-Lapointe tested positive and was suspended for use of a banned substance. She fought her suspension, eventually convincing a tribunal that the positive test was the result of contamination from her then-boyfriend, CBC explains. Her ban was overturned, but forced her to miss the 2019 world championship, a key Olympic qualifier. To compound things, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down several events in 2019, eliminating other opportunities to earn a spot in Tokyo.

Vincent-Lapointe was finally named to Team Canada just two weeks prior to the Olympics. Her race on Thursday was her first international competition in over two years.

“I’m so proud of myself that I did.”

Damian Warner sets Olympic record in the men’s decathalon

If you slept late this morning, you may have missed the 31-year-old from London, Ontario, shatter the Olympic record in decathalon with 9,018 points. Warner is the first Canadian to win gold in the event.

Warner’s teammate Pierece LePage finished fifth in his first Olympic Games.

De Grasse receives his gold medal, as the men’s relay team qualifies for 100-metre final

On Thursday, after years in the international spotlight, Canada’s golden boy finally received the medal he’d fought so hard to attain.

Standing atop the podium, flanked by two of his American rivals, Andre De Grasse was presented with his gold for the 200-metre sprint by the four-time Canadian Olympian Abby Hoffman, who was Canada’s flag-bearer at the Montreal Olympics.

Now, he will have to turn his attention to the men’s 4×100-metre relay. Earlier on Thursday, De Grasse Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake and Brendon Rodney qualified for the event’s highly-anticipated final, which takes place on Friday.

Hot hot heat

The women’s soccer gold medal matchup between Canada and Sweden has been rescheduled due to heat concerns. The game will now take place on Friday morning at 8 a.m. ET, which is Friday evening in Japan.

Both teams had proposed a new time to avoid the intense heat that has blanketed Tokyo all week. The temperature has consistently risen above 30 degrees Celsius, with the humidex well above 40 C.

Other notable Canadian results

Canada’s women finished fifth in their 4×400-metre relay heat and will make it into the final based on time.

Meaghan Benfeito’s fourth Olympics has ended in heartbreaking fashion after she failed to qualify for the women’s 10-metre platform diving final.

The three-time bronze medallist struggled on her first dive, which had also given her trouble in practice. She temporarily rose into the 12th and final qualifying spot after getting high scores for her fourth dive, but fell back into 13th after her final dive.

Brooke Henderson shot a 3-under 68 in the second round of the women’s golf tournament to sit in a tie for 34th at even par.

Rapinoe and the USWNT hang on for bronze

Following the U.S. loss to Canada in the semifinals of women’s soccer, Megan Rapinoe expressed her disappointment: “It’s a bitter one to swallow,” she said. Obviously we never want to lose to Canada. I don’t think I’ve ever lost to Canada.”

Well, there’s a first for everything. But Rapinoe and company weren’t going to let that slow them down in the bronze medal matchup against Australia.

Rapinoe scored twice, as did her veteran teammate Carli Lloyd as the U.S. narrowly captured bronze with a 4-3 victory. An impressive showing from the iconic duo, who may have competed in their last Olympics.

China’s 14-year-old Quan Hongchan puts on a superb diving clinic

10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10.

Quan wasn’t even supposed to be here. The 14-year-old diver would have been too young to qualify if the Olympics were held in 2020 as originally planned.

On Thursday, she executed one of the greatest diving performances in Olympic history, receiving a perfect 10 from all seven judges on not one but two dives in the women’s 10-metre platform final.

Quan finished 41 points ahead of her Chinese teammate Chen Yux, who is only 15 years old. Melissa Wu of Australia won bronze.

Quan’s gold was China’s 33rd of these games.

Burkina Faso wins its first-ever Olympic medal on Independence Day

What better way to celebrate 61 years of independence than a historic Olympic medal?

Hugues Fabrice Zango leapt an impressive 17.47m in men’s triple jump on Thursday, winning bronze. Portugal’s Pedro Pichardo took home gold, followed by China’s Zhu Yaming with silver.

Greek artistic swimming team out of Tokyo Olympics due to COVID-19 outbreak

A COVID-19 outbreak has ruled Greece’s artistic swimming team out of the Olympics ahead of Friday’s team event, marking the first time in Tokyo that an entire team has withdrawn mid-competition due to the coronavirus.

The team has been moved out of the Olympic Village and is in quarantine after five of the 12 members tested positive for COVID-19. The other seven are considered close contacts and are also unable to compete.

Meanwhile, Tokyo recorded 5,042 new cases on Thursday.

WHAT’S IN STORE FOR TEAM CANADA ON DAY 14

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Men’s race walk 50-kilometre at 4:40 p.m. ET

Women’s soccer gold medal final between Canada and Sweden at 8 a.m. ET on Friday

Canada’s Mohammed Ahmed competes in the men’s 5,000 metres at 8 a.m. ET on Friday

Canadian men will race in the 4×100-metre relay final at 9:50 a.m. ET on Friday

Canoe sprint C2 at 10:37 p.m. ET on Friday