The Paris 2024 Olympics are just a few weeks away and Canadian athletes are gearing up to compete on the biggest stage.
Canada is sending 318 competitors, including 124 men and 194 women, to this year’s Olympic Games. The opening ceremony takes place on July 26 as the nation will look to best the 24 medals they earned at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
While plenty of talented individuals will be looking to capture gold medals in swimming and track and field, there are also a large group of athletes who will be competing as part of a team.
Some of the popular sports from the Tokyo 2020 Games, such as baseball and softball, are gone and some teams are Canada’s first-ever entries into specific sports. These are seven Canadian teams that will be competing at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
1. Men’s 5×5 basketball
This is the first of three basketball teams that Canada is sending to Paris this summer.
The men are expected to contend for a medal and have recently revealed their roster, which is loaded with NBA talent. The last time the Canadian men’s basketball team got a medal at the Olympics was at the Berlin 1936 Olympics but they have a good chance at breaking that drought.
2. Women’s 5×5 basketball
Two Canadian women’s teams are competing, with one playing five-on-five and the other playing three-on-three. The five-on-five team has several WNBA players, including Kia Nurse and Bridget Carleton.
3. Women’s 3×3 basketball
Canada is also sending a team to compete in the women’s three-on-three basketball. This is only the second Olympics with three-on-three basketball and Canada has never participated before.
There are four players — Katherine Plouffe, Michelle Plouffe, Kacie Bosch, and Paige Crozon — who will represent Canada at the tournament.
Both Plouffe sisters and Crozon rank in the top three of the FIBA three-on-three women’s leaderboard.
4. Women’s soccer
The Canadian women’s soccer team provided some of the most memorable moments at the Tokyo 202o Olympics. They won the gold medal with a huge win over Sweden and beat the United States in the semifinal on the way to doing so.
This will be the first time since 2004 that Canada does not have Christine Sinclair leading them on the field, as she announced her retirement earlier this year.
5. Women’s rugby 7s
The Canadian women will be representing the country in rugby 7s. The format of this sport is much faster and more exciting than traditional rugby. This year will be the third time rugby 7s is held at the Olympics.
Canada currently ranks fifth out of 12 teams on the HSBC Rugby SVNS women’s circuit.
6. Men’s indoor volleyball
The Canadian men’s volleyball team qualified for the indoor event and will play against Slovenia, France, and Serbia during the round-robin group stage.
A variety of other athletes are competing in beach volleyball events for Canada, including men’s and women’s players.
7. Women’s water polo
The Canadian women’s water polo team qualified for the tournament and will play against Hungary, China, Australia, and the Netherlands in the group stage.
Canada has never won a medal in water polo but will look to change that this year.