For a second day in a row at the Paris Games, a Canadian woman achieved an unprecedented feat in the history of the country’s Olympics.
Just under 24 hours after Eleanor Harvey won Canada’s first-ever Olympic medal in fencing, judoka Christa Deguchi won gold in the under-57 kg category early Monday evening on the tatami at the Champ-de-Mars Arena.
Before Deguchi, no Canadian athlete, male or female, had ever reached the top of an Olympic podium in judo. She also won Canada’s first gold medal at these Games.
“I’m very happy to be part of Canadian history. I’m number 1. I still can’t believe I did it,” said Deguchi, referring to the two feats she accomplished Monday.
Deguchi, the world number one and a two-time world champion, did so by beating South Korea’s Mimi Huh in overtime in the final matchup, avenging the loss she suffered to Huh in the 2024 World Championship final.
Canada could have even won a second medal in judo, but Quebecer Arthur Margelidon, in the under 73 kg category, lost to Italian Manuel Lombardo in the repechage round.
In his previous outing, in the quarter-finals, Margelidon made only one small mistake. But it allowed Azerbaijani world number one Hidayat Heydarov to ippon him after just over six minutes of extra-time action.
The Quebecer finished the competition in seventh place.
Deguchi’s medal was Canada’s fourth of the Games, and came hours after the tandem of Nathan Zsombor-Murray and Rylan Wiens won bronze in the 10-metre platform synchronized diving event.
In doing so, they became the first Canadian men to win an Olympic medal in the sport since Alexandre Despatie in 2008 in Beijing.
Zsombor-Murray of Pointe-Claire and Wiens of Saskatoon had a total of 422.13 points. China’s Junjie Lian and Hao Yang led with a score of 490.35. Britain’s Tom Daley and Noah Williams followed with 463.44 points.
Canada’s moments of joy didn’t stop there. In swimming, prodigious Summer McIntosh added a second gold medal to her country’s tally, winning the 400m individual medley by more than five seconds over American Katie Grimes.
The 17-year-old from Toronto stopped the clock at 4:27.71, 10 seconds faster than she had done in qualifying earlier in the day.
A little later, Quebecer Mary-Sophie Harvey missed the podium by 74 hundredths of a second, finishing in fourth place in the 200 metres freestyle with a time of 1 min 55.29 s.
Of the eight swimmers who qualified for the final, Harvey was in last place after the first 50 metres, which she completed in 27.49 seconds. For comparison, Hong Kong’s Siobhán Bernadette Haughey – the bronze medallist in the event – swam the first 50 metres in 26.72 seconds, 0.77 seconds slower than the Trois-Rivières native.
In other news, Canadians Kylie Masse and Ingrid Wilm have both qualified for the 100m backstroke final on Tuesday.
One wins, the other loses
In tennis, Canada had a mixed start to the day. Quebec’s Leylah Annie Fernandez reached the third round of the women’s singles after beating Spain’s Cristina Bucsa 7-6 (4), 6-3.
Fernandez will face German Angelique Kerber in her next singles match.
Around the same time Fernandez was dealing with Bucsa, Ontario’s Bianca Andreescu was hampered in her efforts to advance to the third round, losing in straight sets 3-6, 4-6 to Croatia’s Donna Vekić.
Fernandez returned to the court later Monday for her first-round women’s doubles match with Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski — which had already been postponed twice — against France’s Clara Burel and Varvara Gracheva, whom they eliminated in straight sets 6-1, 7-5.
In the men’s competition, Félix Auger-Aliassime had a day off from singles duty until Tuesday. He will then face the German Maximilian Marterer.
In the meantime, he was able to keep his reflexes as sharp as possible in doubles with Milos Raonic, in their match against third seeds Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.
The Canadian duo, however, lost in two sets, with the Americans beating them by a score of 7-6 (14), 6-4.
Canada and France divide
In the wake of the dramatic end to the match between the two countries at the women’s soccer tournament, Canada and France met not once, but twice on Monday.
The first matchup went to the advantage of the host country, which dominated the Canadians 75-54 in women’s basketball.
The outcome of the duel was decided in the second quarter, dominated 23-2 by the French, the same lead as the final score.
According to the International Basketball Federation, the two points allowed by France represent the fewest ever conceded in a quarter of an Olympic match, men’s or women’s.
Then, in a third clash in two days between the two countries, Canada defeated France 19-14 in the quarter-finals of the women’s rugby sevens tournament.
Chloe Daniels scored the winning try with 53 seconds left in the second half as the Canadians held off a late French attack to secure a spot in the semifinals. They will play Australia on Tuesday.
In men’s boxing, Canadian Wyatt Sanford won his first fight of the Olympic tournament, against Bulgarian Radoslav Simeonov Rosenov.