Notable quotes from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics: Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021

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This article was published 01/08/2021 (1502 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TOKYO – Here’s a selection of notable quotes from Canadian and other athletes at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021.

“Once I got that sixth, there was a little bit of pressure on me to get that seventh medal. My two other races I was really thinking about it, get that seven, get that seven. Then I came fourth and both of those hurt a little bit.

“But then, honestly, on the last race, I accepted it. I have six Olympic medals. I’m not going to complain if I leave here with six Olympic medals.”

— Canadian swimmer Penny Oleksiak, after getting her seventh career Olympic medal, a record for a Canadian, by helping Canada’s medley relay team capture bronze. Oleksiak got the historic medal on her third try after a pair of fourth-place finishes earlier in the Games.

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“I’ve been going through hell and back for the last, like, two or three years. I think these girls have kind of seen me struggle through it pretty hard.”

— Oleksiak, revealing she has been managing a back injury for some time.

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“To get back on the podium, it’s a great feeling, especially when we didn’t know last year if this was even going to happen. So I’m just really happy to be here again. And, of course, the past couple of years is battling injuries. So, just really happy to be back out here again racing, I ran a personal best, so I can’t complain. And every year, I’m just going to try to continue to get better.”

— Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse after winning his second straight Olympic bronze medal in the men’s 100 metres.

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“Going into today I was just going for a medal. I knew I could drop to seventh but I was like ‘no matter what happens, I’m going to be super proud.’ It took me a moment, obviously, coming off the medal race you’re very upset and I couldn’t stop crying.”

— Sailor Sarah Douglas after finishing sixth in the laser radial competition, the best-ever finish by a Canadian in the event.

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“My only goal today was just to compete at my best, and I think I did that the last two minutes of the match. That wasn’t enough today.”

— Canadian wrestler Erica Wiebe after losing her first match of the women’s 76-kilogram freestyle event. Wiebe won gold in the 75-kg event at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

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“It sucked. I sucked like the whole day and, yeah, super disappointing. That’s all I can really say about it.”

— Canadian golfer Mackenzie Hughes after posting 4 over in the final round and finishing 50th at the Olympic men’s golf tournament.

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“Heartbroken for our team. We won two of the four quarters, but unfortunately we dug ourselves into too much of a hole. Just disappointed.”

— Canada women’s basketball coach Lisa Thomaidis after her team’s 76-66 loss to Spain.

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“It was more mental, yeah. This whole tournament is about managing emotions and expectations, and so I think that Brandie and I definitely did a better job as a team of doing that today compared to our play in pool play.”

— Canada’s Heather Bansley after she and partner Brandie Wilkerson advanced to the quarterfinals of the women’s beach volleyball competition with a 2-1 win over Americans Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil.

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“I don’t think it’s so much about beating Mexico. I think it’s a lot to just raise awareness for baseball in Israel. For me, I was just taking in the moment and seeing after the game the amount of love that we received from people back in Israel. We had messages on top of messages from people just saying thank you.”

— Catcher Nick Rickles after Israel downed Mexico 12-5 for its first Olympic baseball win.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 1, 2021.