Canada gets the most medals it ever has in any summer Olympics
By Jerrison Oracion, Senior Columnist
The closing ceremony where the Olympic cauldron was extinguished turned out better than the opening ceremony.
As the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo started to wind down, there was a surge of cases in the host city. So much so that the surge broke daily records and extended their state of emergency to the end of the month. Still, not a lot of athletes and coaching staff got coronavirus seeings only 574 cases; the games were declared a success even though no spectators were allowed to watch inside the venues. While Japan did very well and the United States swept the medal standings, Canada made a lot of history in these games.
Canada got 24 medals in total; this is the most medals that the country has ever won in any Summer Olympic Games (that were non-boycotted) of all time. Included with these seven gold medals is Canada finally getting the gold medal in women’s soccer with its Captain Christine Sinclair (who is from Burnaby!). The gold medal match was the most watched event in the country during the games, and Canada was able to accomplish their mission of changing the colour of the medal from bronze to gold.
Canada also got gold medals in the 200m for Andre de Grasse and in the decathlon for Damian Warner (where he set an Olympic record of getting the most points in a decathlon). While the men’s 4x100m relay team got a bronze medal, they might now receive a silver medal with the news that Great Britain’s team was tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. There was also a gold medal in rowing for the women’s eight team.
The closing ceremony where the Olympic cauldron was extinguished turned out better than the opening ceremony. The two predominant musicians that performed in the ceremony were Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra and Japanese Canadian singer milet. There was also a reference to Demon Slayer and references to France which will host the next Summer Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.
The games were one of the greenest Olympics in history with initiatives to reuse materials and reduce waste—though they have been accused of “greenwashing” or making their games appear more sustainable than they really were. The new National Olympic Stadium was built with timber and powered with green energy while the medals were made with recycled electronics. Some of the venues that were used during the last time Tokyo hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1964 were reused and vehicles driving athletes, staff, officials, and media were hybrid vehicles by Toyota which produce fewer emissions.
The Summer Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 will probably have a different atmosphere as we saw in the closing ceremony presentation where President Emmanuel Macron is on top of the Eiffel Tower inviting the world to the city where breakdancing will be a sport.
For the Paris 2024 games, they went a step forward by using existing facilities and building temporary venues in famous landmarks including the Louvre. The Olympic Village will also be built with sustainable standards in mind to reduce the amount of emissions in the air and use less to build it.
Even if the pandemic happened, the games were still fun, exciting, and historic—though it would have been more engaging if spectators were allowed to watch them in-person. The Olympics show that sport brings everyone together.