A look at five things to know from Thursday at the 2024 Paris Olympics

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This article was published 08/08/2024 (748 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PARIS – From a medal for Canada’s flag-bearer to history in beach volleyball, here are five things to know from Thursday at the 2024 Paris Games:

HEAVY MEDAL

Maude Charron is bringing home a medal for the second straight Olympics. Charron, Canada’s female flag-bearer at the opening ceremony, won silver in the women’s 59-kilogram weightlifting event. The 31-year-old from Rimouski, Que., previously captured gold in Tokyo three years ago in the 64-kg category, which has since been removed from the Olympic program. Reigning world champion Luo Shifang of China lifted a total of 241kg (107 snatch and 134 clean and jerk) to claim gold ahead of Charron, who had 236 (106 snatch and 130 clean and jerk).

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BEACH VOLLEY BEST

Canada has earned its best-ever result in beach volleyball after Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson advanced to the gold-medal match. The Canadian pair came back from a set down and saved a match point to defeat Switzerland’s Tanja Hueberli and Nina Brunner 14-21, 22-20, 15-12 in the semifinal. They are the first Canadian women’s beach volleyball team to reach the Olympic podium. Canadian men Mark Heese and John Child took bronze at Atlanta 1996.

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RELAY FINALS REACHED

Canadian sprinters will have two more chances to reach the podium in Paris. The Canadian men’s and women’s 4×100-metre relay teams advanced through the semifinal Thursday. The Canadian women’s team of Sade McCreath, Jacqueline Madogo, Marie-Eloise Leclair and Audrey Leduc ran a national record of 42.50 seconds to advance. De Grasse, Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake and Brendon Rodney ran it in 38.39 seconds on the men’s side. De Grasse, a six-time Olympic medallists, failed to reach the final in the 100 and 200 sprints. The Canadian men took bronze at the Rio Games in 2016 and silver at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 before winning the world title in 2022.

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REPECHAGE TO BRONZE

Canada’s Skylar Park went from the repechage to the podium in the women’s taekwondo 57-kilogram division. Park’s medal hopes seemed dashed earlier in the day with a quarterfinal loss to Kim Yujin of South Korea, but she earned another chance to fight after Kim reached the final. The 25-year-old from Winnipeg beat Turkey’s Hatice Kubra Ilgan 2-0 in the repechage before taking down Lebanon’s Laetitia Aoun 2-0 to claim a bronze medal.

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CASE OF COVID

Letsile Tebogo of Botswana sprinted to gold in the men’s 200 metres, beating out Americans Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles, the 100 champ. Lyles, it turns out, was running with COVID. The Associated Press reports Lyles was ill after the U.S. star was carted off by medics in a wheelchair following his third-place finish. Tebogo led from the beginning to the end, crossing the finish line in 19.46 seconds for the fourth-fastest time in history.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 8, 2024.