It’s now official: Canada outdid itself at the last Olympics, winning 27 medals. How does this performance compare to those of the past? The Duty analyzed medal data since 1900 to highlight the highlights of the Paris Games.
A record number of medals
The 2024 Games will now mark Canada’s Olympic history: it will be the best performance of the Canadian delegation at a modern Summer Games, if we exclude those of 1980 in Moscow, in the middle of the Cold War, where Canada was absent, and those of 1984 in Los Angeles, boycotted by the Soviet Union and its allies of the time.
Canada won 27 medals in Paris this year, breaking its previous record of 24, set three years earlier in Tokyo. Canadian athletes also won a record nine gold medals this summer.
Women, the big winners of the Games
The performance at the Paris Games once again shows the strength of Canadian female athletes in their respective disciplines: of the country’s 27 medals, 17 were won by women, or about 63%. Added to this is a bronze medal won in the mixed tennis event.
In Paris, Canadian women won six gold medals — a record for Canadian women, matched only by men in 1984 — five silver and six bronze. The 17 medal total follows the trend from recent Games: Canadians won 18 medals in Tokyo in 2021, and 16 medals in Rio in 2016.
Canada’s History at the Games
In its Olympic history, Canada has won the most medals in athletics: 71 since the 1900 Games, also held in Paris. Swimming follows closely behind, with a total of 63 medals since those same Games. Canada also stands out in rowing (44 medals), canoeing (28 medals) and boxing (18 medals).
In total, throughout the modern history of the Games, Canadians have won a total of 353 medals: 80 gold, 116 silver and 157 bronze.