By Canadian Press

Rogers’ hammer throw gold rescues the day for Canada at the Paris Games

Aug 6, 2024 | 2:10 PM

PARIS — With just two throws to go and trailing her American rival, Camryn Rogers stepped into the hammer throwing circle at Stade de France.

The Canadian world champion let loose, hurling the hammer 76.97 metres and surging into the lead.

Rogers’ throw stood, giving Canada a sweep of the hammer throw titles at the Paris Olympics and saving what was shaping up to be a disappointing day at the Games.

“To be on that podium and to hear the national anthem, it’s something that I feel like I’ve dreamed of for so long,” Rogers said. “I started throwing 12-and-a-half years ago. That summer was the London (2102) Olympics.

“Watching our Canadian women out there, doing their absolute best and representing our country so well. I knew I wanted to be here one day.”

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Day 11 started with controversy, as the personal coach of Andre De Grasse was stripped of his accreditation a day before the star sprinter was sent to race in the 200-metre semifinals.

There were also disappointments in competition. Canada’s vaunted men’s basketball team, led by NBA superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, was shut out of the medals after an 82-73 to host France. Meanwhile, diver Caeli McKay came up just short in the women’s 10-metre platform, finishing fourth in an Olympic event for an agonizing third time.

Rogers’ gold, however, got Canada back into the medal race after the country’s athletes were held off the podium for the first time Monday. Canada ended the day with 18 medals (six gold, four silver, eight bronze), good for 10th overall.

There were other reasons for optimism as Canadian sprint canoeists Sloan Mackenzie and Katie Vincent qualified for the women’s double 500-metre semifinals by putting down an Olympic-record time in their heat.

Rogers, from Richmond, B.C., led after the first round of the hammer throw with a toss of 74.11 metres, only to see the lead change twice over the next two rounds.

Zhao Jie of China took the lead in the second round with a throw of 74.27 metres before Annette Echikunwoke of the United States took over in the third with a season’s-best throw of 75.48.

Rogers came close in the fourth round, with her throw just four millimetres behind Echikunwoke. But the Canadian’s fifth throw bested the American by just under a metre-and-a-half.

Rogers’ win came two days after Ethan Katzberg of Nanaimo, B.C., won the men’s hammer throw title. The two Canadians also won gold at the 2023 world championships in Budapest.

“Coming into this (final) today was, to have the experience that I’ve had, the highs and the lows, it’s all learning moments,” she said. “Coming to this moment, getting to that fifth round, it’s a moment of do or die. To be able to do it when it counts, in that throw, to see my coach cheering from the stands, it’s like, ‘OK, I think we did it’.

“To see the mark pop up – this is the kind of thing we’ve been training for, fighting for, I’m just glad I was able to make him proud in that moment of having all of our training lead to this.”

The day started with the Canadian Olympic Committee announcing that it revoked the accreditation of Rana Reider, who coaches De Grasse and other sprinters.

The organization said Reider was on probation with the U.S. Center for SafeSport until May of this year, and the decision to accredit him was based on the understanding that he had no other suspensions or sanctions against him.

“On Sunday, Aug. 4 we learned of new information about the appropriateness of Mr. Reider remaining accredited by Team Canada at the Paris 2024 Games,” the COC wrote. “In discussion with Athletics Canada, it was agreed that Mr. Reider’s accreditation be revoked.”

The COC did not specify the nature of the new information, but did say that Reider was accredited only as a personal coach with access to athletic warm-up and training areas.

Athletics Canada head coach Glenroy Gilbert said De Grasse was “fine” and looking forward to Wednesday’s race.

“He’s a very loose guy,” Gilbert said. “Andre is fine. He’s fine with it. He’s going to be ready to run tomorrow. … He understands our position.

“We’re making sure that we remove the distraction and focus on performance.”

In basketball, France led the quarterfinal from Canada form start to finish, stretching its lead by as many as 19 points.

Gilgeous-Alexander had a game-high 27 points as Canada cut into the lead in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough.

Gilgeous-Alexander said France “punched us in the mouth.”

“It’s the best basketball players in the world,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s a very hard tournament, if not the hardest.

“Once you get to the elimination round, everything matters a little bit more. We’ll be more prepared for that next time.”

In diving, McKay put herself into medal contention by moving up from eighth to fourth on her third dive, but couldn’t pass bronze medallist North Korea’s Kim Mi Raeon her two remaining dives.

As expected, China finished with the top two medals as Quan Hongchan won gold and Chen Yuxi took silver.

McKay said finishing fourth again “is definitely not easy to take,” but was proud of her performance that put the pressure on Kim.

“Finishing fourth when you performed really well is not a bad thing at all,” she said. “Finishing fourth when you gave your all, without holding back, without any major errors … I did everything I could today.”

Mackenzie and Vincent started their quest for a medal in commanding fashion as they won their heat in a time of one minute 54:16 seconds.

The Canadians spent the first half of their heat in a tight battle with eventual second-place finisher Spain, but put on a burst of speed in the last 150 metres.

“I’m getting a little older so these things hurt a little bit more,” Vincent, from Mississauga, Ont., said of the last push. “But it’s part of the game and it’s what we train for.”

Vincent previously won a bronze medal in the event with former partner Laurence Vincent Lapointe in Tokyo 2020, which was the first Olympics to include women’s canoe events.

All five Canadian boats that were on the water Tuesday advanced to their respective 500-metre semifinals, though only Vincent and Mackenzie finished high enough in their heats to move on directly.

Canada also advanced in two-person kayak, men’s kayak four, women’s kayak four and men’s kayak doubles.

On the track, 20-year-old runner Christopher Morales Williams missed out on the 400-metre final after finishing eighth in his semifinal.

Morales Williams, from Vaughan, Ont., still says he picked up valuable experience in Paris.

“Now I know what it’s like and I feel like a lot of these guys, they had experience and that’s the advantage they had over me,” he said. “But now I got to experience it, I did some Diamond Leagues — next year I’ll be a (full-time) pro and I’ll be back.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 6, 2024.

The Canadian Press