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Newsletter By Jackson Starr, Adam Beauchemin, Martin Cleary, Dan Plouffe & Kaitlyn LeBoutillier
The improbable Canadian women’s soccer run, which was catapulted by some late game heroics from Ottawa’s Vanessa Gilles, came to an end on Saturday at the hands of the Germans. In what was a very close scoreless match with chances shared by both teams, Germany prevailed 4-2 on penalty kicks to advance to the semifinals.
The beginning of the match was controlled by Germany who came at Canada with multiple attacks up the right and left flanks. Canada bent but did not break though, with defender Gilles playing a key role at clearing the early German offensive threat.
As the game went on though, Canada settled in and started developing chances for themselves, particularly after several substitutions up front in the second half, with the Canadians dominating the final half-hour.
Canada developed some glorious chances but were unable to find the back of the net. Gilles collected one of the many opportunities, jumping in for a header chance which just sailed over the bar.
Both teams traded opportunities in extra time before penalties soon arrived, and Germany prevailed 4-2, capped off by the game-winning kick coming from German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger.
With the loss, Canada is eliminated from the Olympics competition and will not medal in women’s soccer for the first time since Beijing 2008. It was a rollercoaster ride for the women’s team in Paris, riddled with a six-point deduction in the group stage and coaching suspensions for pre-tournament spying.
For her part, Gilles finished with two massive Canadian game-winning goals to keep her team alive, and played a big role on the back end for Canada throughout the tournament.
“Right now, I feel an immense amount of pride,” Gilles told CBC after the team’s win against Columbia, which allowed them to improbably advance out of the group stage. “Pride for the players here, for the staff that are grinding it out, for the supporters, friends and family that are here.
“The friends and family came to our hotel and made sure that we felt the support and the love… just pride to be Canadian, pride to be a part of this group.”
Derek Gee & Mike Woods finish neck-and-neck in middle of cycling road race pack
Both Derek Gee and Mike Woods competed in the gruelling men’s cycling road race Saturday. The 272 km race took the bikers into the scenic French countryside before returning to finish under the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.
Both of the Ottawa Olympic cyclists finished in the same pack. Woods placed just ahead in 41st, while Gee rolled in just behind in 44th, both registering the same time of 6:26:57 – 7:23 behind the gold medal winner Remco Evenepoel of Belgium.
Despite the middle-of-the-pack finishes, it was a valiant effort from the Canadians. Woods was part of a late-race, seven-rider break with under 40 km left, but the group splintered and he fell off the pace come the end of the second of three climbs up Côte de la butte Montmatre.
“It got really exciting,” Woods recounted via the Canadian Olympic Committee. “I got the move that ultimately could have resulted in a podium, but I just didn’t have the legs to follow.
“I’m pretty disappointed with that, but my preparation wasn’t ideal for this race and the course wasn’t perfectly suited to me. I’m a climber and this is more of a classics race. I tried my best, but I want more.”
Woods had to withdraw part way through this year’s Giro d’Italia, sapped by a virus. Gee, meanwhile, was coming off a top-10 performance in the general classification in his debut Tour de France, and a 20th-place finish in the Olympic men’s individual time trial. The 26-year-old previously competed in track cycling at the Tokyo Olympics.
“It was pretty spectacular” riding through the crowds in Paris, Gee said via the COC. “It was probably the loudest I’ve ever heard going up the climb on the circuit. That was pretty amazing.”
Woods said that the Paris Games were his best Olympic experience of three “by far.”
“Coming fifth in Tokyo was a letdown just because I was so close to the podium. It was an amazing performance, however,” reflected the 37-year-old. “Rio was a cool experience, but it was nothing compared to this. The fans were insane. My family was here. It was just so much more special. No Zika virus, no COVID, it was a way better experience.”
Lois Betteridge stays alive in whitewater kayak cross
Lois Betteridge raced twice in the canoe slalom women’s kayak cross competition Saturday, and was able to advance to the Sunday heats on Sunday through the repechage round.
In the first round of the day, Betteridge finished fourth in race eight by being the only one to pick up a fault at gate four of the course. A competitor’s boat landed on her and forced her under water and off line at the second gate of the race, which set her back from the other racers early, a deficit from which she couldn’t battle back.
That forced her to compete in the repechage later on in the day. In the repechage, Betteridge put up an impressive showing in race one, finishing second behind Brazil’s Ana Satila to advance to the heats on Sunday.
After two difficult events last Sunday and Tuesday, this result is the best yet for Betteridge.
“It’s spectacular,” the 26-year-old said of the feeling of competing at the Olympics in an interview with Ottawa Sports Pages reporter Jackson Starr after her last competition. “The crowd is amazing, and it’s pretty special to race in front of so many people in so much noise, it really pulls you down the course.”
Marial Shayok & South Sudan eliminated from men’s basketball tournament
It was a strong effort from South Sudan in their first Olympic basketball competition, but Ottawa’s Marial Shayok and his team’s tournament came to a close on Saturday afternoon. It lost 96-85 at the hands of a strong Serbian team headlined by NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. South Sudan fought until the very end though, as even a loss by one point would have set them up for qualification past the group stage via tiebreaker.
That effort could be seen from the game’s get-go, as South Sudan traded buckets with Serbia throughout the first quarter in what was a very entertaining start. Serbia led by just one point, 23-22 at the conclusion of the first 10 minutes. It was yet another close second quarter, with Serbia outscoring South Sudan 24-22 in the second, and holding a slim three-point lead at the half.
The third quarter was once again close, as every time Serbia went on a run to separate, South Sudan would battle back to keep it close. In particular, South Sudan controlled transition offence, outscoring Serbia 23-16 on fast-break points and 24-15 in points off turnovers.
South Sudan ran out of gas in the fourth, having some fight-back but struggling to contain the star studded Serbians, who took the game, eliminating Shayok and South Sudan.
Shayok played a big role in keeping South Sudan involved though, as he was tied for a team-high 17 points in the game alongside teammate Carlik Jones. On the other side, Serbia was led by a terrific offensive performance from Bogdan Bogdanovic, who put up a game-high 30 points to guide his team to victory and playoff qualification.
Despite the loss, it can be considered a successful tournament for Shayok and the South Sudan basketball team. It created fantastic moments throughout. Even before the tournament began, Shayok nearly led his team to an upset against the USA, falling 101-100 in pre-tournament play. It was also headlined by the team’s first ever men’s basketball win against Puerto Rico.
“Being an Olympian is, honestly, surreal – something I never thought of being growing up,” Shayok said in an email interview with High Achievers columnist Martin Cleary before the Games. “I think it’s a true testament to hard work and support I’ve had throughout my life. I’m so thankful to be in this position.”
Ottawa Olympians in action on August 4:
Eric Peters shoots for the podium in men’s archery
Four Ottawa Olympians will be competing on Sunday, with one having a chance to medal.
After a successful start to his Olympics, archer Eric Peters will look to continue his strong showings and advance to the medal round Sunday. Peters won two knockout matches on Tuesday to advance to the final 16. His match on Sunday will be bright and early just before 4 a.m. Ottawa time, against Mauro Nespoli from Italy.
There truly was an electric atmosphere at the Hotel des Invalides in Paris last week for the archery competitions. And Peters soaked up the opportunity to compete in front of the amped-up crowd. In his first contest, he beat Kazakhstan’s Ilfat Adbullin 6-4 on points, before taking down Dhiraj Bommadevara 6-5 in a closest-to-the-centre, single-arrow shootout to decide the match.
“This is the biggest crowd that archery may have ever seen,” underlined Peters after the competition via Archery Canada. “It’s incredible. It isn’t something we get to experience often in the sport, and just having this atmosphere, it’s something else.”
Peters broke through to win a silver medal at last year’s world championships and entered the Olympics ranked fifth in the world.
Jacqueline Madogo ready for second Olympic competition in women’s 200 m
Jacqueline Madogo made her Olympic debut two days ago in the women’s 100 metres and will look to feed off of that experience going into her second competition at the Olympics. Her first race was an electric debut.
Lined up right next to reigning world champion and eventual Olympic silver medallist Sha’Carri Richardson, Madogo finished in fourth place to miss out on qualifying for the semifinals by just 0.01 seconds.
While the 24-year-old missed the semis, it was a positive first race for Madogo, who has other competitions coming in the Games, starting with tomorrow’s 200 m and then the 4×100 m relay.
The former West Ottawa Soccer Club player, who initially used track and field as conditioning for soccer while playing at the University of Guelph, has drawn the eighth lane in heat 2, which includes world #2 Gabrielle Thomas of USA.
Jessica Gaudreault to close out water polo preliminary round
After losing the team’s first match to Hungary, then finding a win against China a couple days later, goalkeeper Jessica Gaudreault and the Canadian women’s water polo team fell 10-7 against Australia on Friday to fall to 1-2 on the tournament. Canada will wrap up its group stage schedule with the Netherlands on Sunday.
After a difficult first quarter of the match against Hungary, Canada has seen a trend of better starts since, jumping out to a 4-0 lead after the first quarter against China, and going into the second tied 1-1 with Australia.
It’s been the second quarter which has plagued the Canadians though. China was able to close the gap in their previous match, and Australia opened a three-point lead in the second frame, a deficit Canada couldn’t overcome.
Regardless of result Sunday, Gaudreault and Team Canada already know that they will be advancing to the quarter-final round since 0-4 China will finish last in their five-team group.
The Netherlands are currently 2-1, so Canada will be playing to obtain a higher seed heading into the playoff round.
Whitewater paddler Lois Betteridge will be the final Ottawa athlete in action on Sunday. She will be wearing the yellow bib and will be competing in the first heat of the day alongside Algeria’s Carole Diana Bouzidi, Slovakia’s Eliska Mintalova and France’s Camille Prigent. The top-2 finishers in each heat advance to the next round.
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