Montreal

Quebecers to watch for during the Olympic Games

Canada's has sent a team of 313 athletes to Rio for the Olympics. Quebecers make up 54 of them and here are a few to watch during the next two weeks.

54 athletes from Quebec will compete in Rio

Left to right: Eugenie Bouchard, Dorothy Yeats and Lizanne Murphy are among the 54 Quebecers competing at the Rio 2016 Games. (CBC)

Canada's has sent a team of 313 athletes to Rio for the Olympics. Quebecers make up 54 of them and here are a few to watch during the next two weeks.

Wrestling: Dorothy Yeats 

Dorothy Yeats, who started wrestling at age 14, won gold at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Shanghai and at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. (CBC)

Montreal West's Dorothy Yeats is a medal contender for Canada in wrestling. 

Yeats is competing in her first Olympic Games but if her last name sounds familiar that's because her father, Doug Yeats, is a five-time Olympian in Greco-Roman wrestling and competed in Montreal in 1976.

Yeats has a strong resume of success leading up to Rio. In 2014 she won the gold at the FISU World Championship, the Youth Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games.

In 2015 she competed for Canada in Toronto at the Pan Am Games and won gold there too.

Women's wresting begins Aug. 17.

Judo: Antoine Valois-Fortier 

Bronze medallist Antoine Valois-Fortier of Montreal, top, throws Russia's Ivan Nifontov to the mat in a men's 81-kilogram judo quarter-final at ExCel Arena during the London Games.

Judoka Antoine Valois-Fortier was one the great stories from the 2012 Olympics in London when he surprised the world and won bronze. 

This time around the Quebec City native, who trains in Montreal, won't be sneaking up on anyone. In 2014 he became the first Canadian to win a medal at the Judo World Championships in 15 years when he took silver.  

He is coached by two-time Olympic medallist Nicolas Gill.

The judo events begin Aug. 6. 

Diving: The Fab Four

Pamela Ware, front, and Jennifer Abel have won a pair of world championship medals as three-metre synchronized partners, and will also contend for the Olympic podium in the solo event. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

Canada's diving team is entirely made up of athletes from the province of Quebec.

The women, Jennifer Abel, Pamela Ware, Roseline Filion and Meaghan Benefito are some of Canada's strongest medal hopes. 

The group have been appropriately dubbed "The Fab 4" after years of consistently reaching the podium at the World Cup level.

Benefito, Filion and Abel already have Olympic bronze medals from London and the expectation is that they will improve on that in Rio.

On the men's side, Montreal's Philippe Gagné, LaSalle's Vincent Riendeau and Saint-Constant's Maxim Bouchard are all making their Olympic debut. 

The diving events begin Aug. 7.  

Basketball: Lizanne Murphy and Nirra Fields 

Canada's Lizanne Murphy (far left) is one of several veterans who's seen the women's basketball program come along way in the past 12 years. (Julio Cortez, The Canadian Press)

Canada's women's basketball team is back in the Olympics and while a medal is far from guaranteed there is hope this group can put together a run that gets them on the podium.

Beaconsfield's Lizanne Murphy is one of the veteran leaders of this group but nearly missed her opportunity to compete after suffering a knee injury in December.

She pushed through gruelling rehab to get ready in time for the Olympics and the 32-year-old's leadership will be a critical to Canada if they are to win a medal.

Guard Nirra Fields is the other Quebecer on Canada's basketball team. The Lachine native was a standout college player at UCLA and now plays for the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA.  

Canada opens the Olympic basketball tournament with their first group stage game against China on Saturday Aug. 6.

Tennis: Eugenie Bouchard

Canadian tennis player Eugenie Bouchard practices prior to the start of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Jason Ransom/The Canadian Press)
Fresh off her 3rd round exit at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, Westmount's Eugenie Bouchard takes to the court for Canada starting Aug. 6.

Bouchard's first round match up in the women's singles is against American Sloane Stevens. 

Bouchard and Stevens have played each other four times on the professional tour before. Each player taking two wins each. 

The rugby sevens team

Canada's Bianca Farella, center, is tackled by France's Pauline Biscarat. The women's rugby sevens begins Aug 6. (The Associated Press)

Rugby sevens makes its Olympic debut in Rio and Canada's women are a heavy favourite to win gold.

Rugby sevens is an exciting high paced game. It's a sport which is a sure bet to entertain, and if Canada can do as well as they're expected to, it will be even more exciting to watch.

Quebec City's Karin Paquin, Town of Mount Royal's Bianca Farella and Gatineau's Natasha Watcham-Roy will carry the provinces hopes on the pitch.

Quebec City's Magali Harvey, the 2014 World Rugby's Player of the Year in 15s, was controversially left off the final roster by coach John Tait but still, Quebec has three players on the final roster of 12.

The women's rugby sevens begins Aug 6.