Team Canada won a gold medal in athletics on Friday. It is fair to say it was not the gold medal that most were expecting. While Sarah Mitton of Liverpool, Nova Scotia had a great throw in her third attempt in the women’s shot put, her score did not count as she stepped out of bounds. As a result, Mitton finished 12th after three throws, and did not advance to the final three throw section of the competition.
The surprise gold medal came in the men’s 4×100 metre relay. The Canadian team was comprised of Andre de Grasse of Scarborough, Ontario, Brandon Rodney of Etobicoke, Ontario, Aaron Brown of Toronto, Ontario, and Jerome Blake of Burnaby, British Columbia.
The Canadian sprinters, running out of lane nine, posted a winning time of 37.5 seconds. South Africa won the silver medal with a time of 37.57 seconds, and Great Britain won the bronze medal with a time of 37.61 seconds. Canada reached the podium by 0.18 seconds over Italy, which had a fourth place time of 37.68 seconds. You may wonder what happened to the Americans? Well once again the Americans were disqualified at a major international event for a botched handoff.
Blake, de Grasse, Rodney and Brown won a silver medal in the men’s 4×100 metres at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. Brown, de Grasse and Rodney were also part of the Canadian team that won bronze in the men’s 4×100 metres at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. For de Grasse this was his seventh Olympic medal. In addition to the three relay medals at the last three Olympic Games, he won gold in the men’s 200 metres at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, silver in the men’s 200 metres at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and bronze in the men’s 100 metres and 200 metres at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
