It may not be possible to catch all the best moments in a single day of the Olympic Games—but we’re going to try. Every day, we’ll award titles for standout achievements at (and around) Rio 2016, achievements that may or may not be recognized on the podium (and may or may not even be of an athletic nature). Here are our picks for Day 4.
Benfeito and Filion continue the streak in the clutch
Another day, another medal for Canada, which has now captured a medal on each day of the Olympics thus far bringing the total to five, tied with Great Britain for 10th place early on.
Tuesday’s medal came courtesy of Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion, both from Laval, Que., whose clutch final dive sealed bronze for the Canadian duo at the 10m synchronized diving event—the same one they won bronze at four years ago in London.
It was a remarkable performance for the Canadians. Despite sitting in second place after the first of five rounds, Benfeito and Filion found themselves in fifth place heading into the fifth and final dive. With the Chinese powerhouse team of Chen Ruolin and Liu Huixia holding a comfortable lead in first, and teams from Malaysia and North Korea threatening for the other two medal spots, the Canadians pulled off their best dive of the competition, earning an 80.64 from the judges and the come-from-behind finish.
Unrelated, but impossible not to notice, was the emerald-green waters that Tuesday’s divers repeatedly plunged into, distinctly different than the water polo pool beside it.
So, there’s that.
“It was weird,” Benfeito said after the event. “I remember getting up on the tower and [Filion] didn’t want to laugh because it’s not really the blue that we’re used to. It’s not the same colour as the sky so that was really on our side today … We know that it’s water down there. The fact that it was green actually helped.”
Nestor poised to become Canada’s first two-time tennis medallist
Doubles tennis legend Daniel Nestor, who helped win Canada’s first and, to this date, only Olympic medal in tennis 16 years ago in Sydney, will have a chance to add to the haul thanks to an impressive straight-set victory on Tuesday.
Nestor, along with partner Vasek Pospisil, took care of Italy’s Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-3, earning the pair a trip to the semifinals where they’ll square off against Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez of Spain.
It’s Nestor’s sixth Olympics and he and Pospisil, a regular pairing for Canada at the Davis Cup, are rebounding nicely from a disappointing semifinal loss at the Rogers Cup in Toronto less than two weeks ago.
On the women’s side, things didn’t work out quite as well for the Canadian duo of Gabriele Dabrowski and Eugenie Bouchard, who lost a hard-fought three-setter to the Czech Republic’s Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova 6-7, 6-2, 6-4. The loss means Nestor and Pospisil are the only Canadians left in tennis. Both Pospisil and Bouchard lost in the first and second round of the singles draw, respectively, and failed to make the cut on Tuesday as a mixed-doubles team.
USA Basketball win gold
… for Christ the Redeemer selfies. With a 2-0 record thus far and an average victory margin of 50.5 points, the NBA all-star team known as USA’s men’s basketball team took a well-deserved trip to Rio’s most iconic tourist attraction:
Amid the team-bonding trip, Team USA is readying for what should be its first real test of the Rio Olympics, facing fellow undefeated Australia, which upset medal favourites France over the weekend.
Later Tuesday night after their sightseeing, the men’s basketball team was in attendance to watch the most anticipated event of the Olympic Games to this point: American Michael Phelps vs. South Africa’s Chad le Clos in the 200m butterfly final.
Phelps’s quest for No. 20 lives up to the hype
You’ve seen the “Phelps face” by now, which signalled an all-out war between the two rivals heading into Tuesday night’s action. Phelps came into the race holding both the world and Olympic record, but le Clos is the defending champ in the event having edged the American by 0.04 seconds in London.
A particularly motivated Phelps took control of the race early and never let up, despite a scare from Japan’s Masato Sakai who made a huge surge in the final 20 metres. Phelps won—ironically, by 0.04 seconds—capturing his record 20th gold medal in the process. An animated Phelps called for the crowd’s approval when the race finished before briefly hugging it out with la Cros, who was neck-and-neck with Phelps for the first half of the race but lost steam down the stretch, finishing fourth.
Pissing Match
The swim races have lived up to their marquee status thus far, and luckily for fans the bad blood is hardly done spilling after Phelps’s victory.
French swimmer Camille Lacourt took a verbal swing at newly crowned 200m freestyle gold medallist Sun Yang of China in a rant against doping scandals in the sport.
“Sun Yang, he pisses purple,” Lacourt told RMCsport, a French radio station. “I am very sad,” he continued, “when I see my sport getting like this. I have the impression I am looking at athletics, with two or three doped in each final. I hope that FINA is going to react and stop this massacre, because it is getting sad.”
Lacourt’s comments came after 19-year-old American swimmer Lily King took a shot at Russia’s Yulia Efimova, who missed 16 months due to doping violations, and all athletes who have been caught before. When asked about King’s comments Phelps agreed and said, “I think [Lily] is right … Something needs to be done.”
Canada pulls off the upset on the field, wins their group
On the four-year anniversary of Canada’s bronze medal win over France at the 2012 Olympics, the Senior Women’s National Soccer Team officially secured a rematch thanks to an impressive win in their final group play match.
Despite sitting several starters, including captain Christine Sinclair, Canada pulled off the upset against Germany, the world’s No. 2 ranked team heading into Rio.
Germany struck first, scoring on a penalty kick at the 13-minute mark, but the Canadians evened it up shortly after thanks to a goal from Melissa Tancredi, whose brilliant pump fake move near the German net froze the defence before the Canadian star put the ball away.
Tancredi followed that up by finishing a header off a free kick from Rebecca Quinn at the 59-minute mark that put Canada up for good, 2-1.
The win means Canada, who had already secured a spot in the knockout round, finished first in Group F which means they’ll face world No. 3 France, a team they’re looking for their first win against in three tries since capturing the bronze four years ago.
More upsets
Following in the footsteps of world No. 1 men’s star Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams was bounced early from the singles draw. In a shocking upset, Williams lost her match Tuesday, which means there’ll be a new gold medallist in the event this year.
The world’s No. 1-ranked player and a gold medallist at the London Games in 2012 dropped her third-round match to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 4-6, 3-6. Williams appeared to be nursing an injury during the match, a particularly confounding result given that the last time these two met, at the French Open earlier this year, Williams made quick work of Svitolina, 6-1, 6-1.
On the hardcourt, Spain found themselves on the wrong side of another upset loss, their second in as many games so far in Rio—both heartbreakers. On Tuesday Spain, the No. 2-ranked team heading into the tournament, lost by a single point to host Brazil, just two days after suffering another one-point loss to Croatia.
