Five takeaways from Friday at the Games - The Globe and Mail

Canada's Andre De Grasse celebrates after winning the men's 200m final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on Aug. 4, 2021.

JEFF PACHOUD/AFP

DE GRASSE’S PLACE IN HISTORY

With his bronze in men’s 4x100-metre relay on Friday – his sixth Olympic medal – Andre De Grasse moved into Canadian Olympic lore. He passed five-time Olympic medalists Scott Moir (figure skating), Marc Gagnon, Charles Hamelin and François-Louis Tremblay (short-track speedskating), and Phil Edwards (track and field), on Canada’s all-time men’s medal table. He now has two bronze and a silver from 2016 and added pair of bronze and a gold in Tokyo. De Grasse, 26, said there’s more where that came from.

Canada's Brooke Henderson watches her drive from the 14th tee in round 2 of the womens golf individual stroke play during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Kasumigaseki Country Club in Kawagoe on Aug. 5, 2021.

KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP

CANADIAN UPS AND DOWNS

Canada’s Brooke Henderson shot a 71 to stay at par in women’s golf. The product of Smiths Falls, Ont. sits in a four-way tie for 40th. Hamilton’s Alena Sharp had a two-under 69 to improve her standing and sit a shot back of Henderson in sole possession of 44th. “I really had to grind it out and get up and down sometimes and make lemonade out of lemons today,” Henderson said. “It’s just nice that I had that courage and grind in me because it’s tough to keep going when you’re that far down on the leaderboard.”

United States' Jessica Springsteen, riding Don Juan van de Donkhoeve, competes during the equestrian jumping team qualifying at Equestrian Park in Tokyo at the 2020 Summer Olympics on Aug. 6, 2021, in Tokyo.

Carolyn Kaster/The Associated Press

SPRINGSTEEN, U.S. TEAM IN JUMPING FINAL

Jessica Springsteen and the U.S. equestrian jumping team earned an encore performance in qualifying Friday night. Springsteen and gold medal-winning teammates Laura Kraut and McClain Ward secured a spot in Saturday night’s team jumping final with a trio of nearly perfect trips around the Equestrian Park course. Their combined 13 penalty points ranked fifth of 19 entrants – the top 10 advanced to the medal round. Springsteen is the daughter of famed rocker Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band wife, Patti Scialfa. The 29-year-old – ranked 14th in the world – failed to make the individual jumping finals in her Olympic debut this week but came back with a strong ride Friday. Her horse, Don Juan van de Donkhoeve, clipped a rail on the 13th of 14 obstacles, the only flaw on an otherwise impressive jaunt.

Evan Dunfee of Canada celebrates after winning bronze in the men's 50km walk at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Aug. 6, 2021.

KIM HONG-JI/Reuters

SWAN SONG

Winner of bronze in the men’s 50-kilometre race walk, Evan Dunfee became likely the only Canadian who will ever win an Olympic medal in the event. But that’s not a point of pride for the 30-year-old from Richmond, B.C. The International Olympic Committee is dropping the 50-km race in the name of gender balance. “It really does just break my heart,” Dunfee said. “The solution would have been to put a women’s 50-k in. The women deserve it.” The Canadian was fifth on the final lap before catching up to two athletes ahead of him. He said the thoughts of friends and family back home, as well as the memory of his late grandmother, propelled him to the podium.

Canada's Nathan Zsombor-Murray competes in the men's 10m platform at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Aug. 6, 2021.

ANTONIO BRONIC/Reuters

STILL IN CONTENTION

Good results in non-medal rounds Friday put several Canadians closer to securing podium spots on the final two days of the Olympic Games. On Tokyo’s Sea Forest Waterway, canoe sprinters Laurence Vincent-Lapointe and Katie Vincent qualified for the semi-final of the C-2 500 metres. In the pool, 18-year-old Nathan Zsombor-Murray of Pointe-Claire, Que., put together an impressive six-dive performance to advance to the semi-final of the men’s 10-metre platform. At the velodrome, track cyclists Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest survived qualifying and each won two heats to move onto the the round of 16 in the women’s sprint.

- The Canadian Press, The Associated Press

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Five takeaways from Friday at the Games - The Globe and Mail
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