Olympic viewing guide: Defiant Canadian women's soccer team controls its own destiny
The penalized Olympic champs advance with a win
This is an excerpt from CBC Sports' daily newsletter, The Buzzer. Subscribe here to get the latest on the Paris Olympics in your inbox every day.
Heading into Day 5 of competition in Paris, Canada has a well-balanced six medals: two gold, two silver and two bronze.
There will be a couple more medal chances on Wednesday. But all eyes are on a must-win match for Canada's defiant women's soccer team. Let's start our daily viewing guide there.
The Canadian women's soccer team controls its own destiny again
Embattled, exhausted and left for dead in the wake of a devastating penalty for the drone-spying scheme involving members of their coaching staff, Canada's players found a lifeboat by deciding to just play for each other.
That was the core message in centre-back Vanessa Gilles' impassioned speech after she scored deep in injury time to give Canada a miraculous upset of host France on Sunday that kept the Olympic champions' playoff hopes alive.
Knowing that any result except a win would eliminate them from the tournament due to the six-point penalty issued by FIFA, Canada rallied from a 1-0 second-half deficit to beat the world's No. 2-ranked team on its home turf. Captain Jessie Fleming scored the equalizer before Gilles banked one in off the post in the 12th (!) minute of stoppage time for the improbable 2-1 victory.
"We haven't slept in the last three days. We haven't eaten. We've been crying," an emotional Gilles told a sideline interviewer. "What's given us energy is each other… our determination, our pride to prove people wrong, our pride to represent this country when all this s--- is coming out about our values.
"We're not cheaters. We're damn good players. We're a damn good team."
WATCH | Gilles defends Canadian team following France win:
One of the saddest things about Dronegate is that it placed another demoralizing obstacle in front of a group of players that had already faced too many of those.
Since thrilling the country with their surprising gold-medal victory in Tokyo, the Canadian women have spent much of the last three years battling their broke (and broken) national federation for an equal-pay deal that has still not arrived. The labour strife probably contributed to last summer's group-stage flameout at the Women's World Cup, as players accused Canada Soccer of failing to provide the resources needed to compete at the highest level.
And now this. Head coach Bev Priestman, assistant Jasmine Mander and staffer Joey Lombardi were kicked out of Paris for their involvement in one of the dumbest schemes imaginable. Flying an illicit drone through one of the most heavily guarded airspaces on the planet is pretty much asking to get caught. And for what? To spy on New Zealand, arguably the worst team in the tournament, for a group-stage game?
Canadians don't get caught cheating this brazenly very often. So a lot of people are comparing this to Ben Johnson's notorious failed doping test in 1988. But steroids, for all their downsides, actually give you an edge. Drone footage? Yeah, not so much.
Those coaches betrayed the players with their reckless decisions. But they also lit a fire under them. That's what struck me as I watched Gilles' spine-tingling call to arms, which might go right up there with Phil Esposito in the 1972 Summit Series and Wayne Gretzky at the 2002 Winter Olympics when we're talking about galvanizing Canadian sports rants.
WATCH | Canada upsets France to keep gold-medal defence alive:
If, that is, the Canadian women advance to the quarterfinals. They can do that by defeating Colombia in their group-stage finale on Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET in Nice.
A win would give Canada a perfect 3-0-0 record and three points in the Group A standings after the six-point deduction, guaranteeing them a top-two finish with their favourable goal differential. A tie is no good. That's worth one point, and Colombia and France already have three. So do several teams in the other two groups, meaning Canada would not have a shot at the two wild-card spots.
Canada is favoured to beat the 22nd-ranked Colombians, so the most compelling story of the Paris Games could have a few more chapters left. The Canadians would still have to win three more games to capture their fourth consecutive Olympic medal, and three in a row to successfully defend their gold.
That's a lot for a team that has already been through a lot. But Gilles put the word out: You want our title? Come and take it.
Canadian medal chances on Wednesday
In chronological order:
Diving: Caeli McKay and Kate Miller in the women's 10m synchronized final at 5 a.m. ET
McKay and Miller will try to follow up Monday's 10m synchro bronze by Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray. That was Canada's first Olympic men's diving medal in 16 years.
Three years ago in Tokyo, McKay and then-teammate Meaghan Benfeito missed the podium in this event by just half a point as McKay bravely competed on a badly injured ankle. She came back to take bronze in the individual 10m event at the 2023 world championships, but McKay and Miller didn't crack the top five in the synchro at the last two worlds.
Swimming: Ilya Kharun in the men's 200m butterfly final at 2:37 p.m. ET
The teenage son of Cirque du Soleil gymnasts placed fourth at last year's world championships, missing the podium by just 0.16 of a second. Kharun swam the third-fastest time in today's semifinals, behind world-record holder Kristof Milak of Hungary, the defending Olympic champion, and French star Leon Marchand, the 2023 world champ.
Marchand, who won his first Olympic gold in the 400m individual medley on Sunday, will also be a top contender in Wednesday's 200m breastroke final. He swam the best time in today's semifinals.
Canada's Josh Liendo failed to qualify for the men's 100m freestyle final after placing 11th in the semis today. He took bronze in this event at the 2022 world championships.
Summer McIntosh is back in the pool for the women's 200m butterfly heats at 5:46 a.m. ET and, presumably, the semifinals at 2:45 p.m. ET. The back-to-back world champion is favoured to win her second gold of the Games and third medal. The final is Thursday.
