Daily Edition – Day 3: …Ready for it?
From The GIST (hi@thegistsports.com)
What an opening weekend!
A truly unforgettable Opening Ceremony is in the books, the first medals have been handed out, and we’ve already become Olympic channel surfers to keep up with all of the action. Riding the wave right into today’s news…
Country | 🥇 | 🥈 | 🥉 | Total |
| 🇯🇵 Japan | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 🇦🇺 Australia | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| 🇺🇲 USA | 3 | 6 | 3 | 12 |
| 🇨🇦 Canada (15th) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
🥈 The summer of Summer McIntosh is off to a great start — the 17-year-old took silver during Saturday’s 400m freestyle final, holding off American superstar Katie Ledecky to win her first career Olympic medal and Canada’s first medal of the Games. Making mom, dad, and all of us proud.
- Elsewhere, Tokyo 2020 gold medalist Maggie Mac Neil sadly fell short in her 100m butterfly title defense yesterday, finishing in fifth.
🤸 The women’s and men’s artistic gymnastics teams are both off to the team finals (today for the men). This marks the women’s return to the team final for the first time in 12 years, while the men qualified for the first time ever. Flippin’ fantastic.
🤺 Fencer Eleanor Harvey is her. The pride of Hamilton, Ontario won a historic bronze medal in women’s foil yesterday, pulling off multiple upsets to snag Canada’s first Olympic medal in fencing.
- Speaking of upsets, Fares Arfa of Laval, Quebec, took down three-time defending Olympic champion Áron Szilágyi of Hungary, on Saturday before eventually falling in the quarter-finals.
🏀 RJ Barrett and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander combined for 44 points to lead Team Canada to an 86–79 win over Greece Saturday, the red and white men’s first Olympic win in 24 years. See if the boys can keep it rolling when they face Australia tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. ET.
🎾 The Canadians have dominated on the Roland-Garros courts so far, with Leylah Annie Fernandez, Bianca Andreescu, and Félix Auger-Aliassime through to the second round in singles as action continues today. Aces.
Women’s Soccer
⚽ Keep on survivin’
The GIST: From No. 12 Australia and No. 64 Zambia’s 11-goal showdown to No. 1 Spain’s last-minute win over No. 36 Nigeria, yesterday’s six group stage games more than delivered — but No. 8 CanWNT’s ongoing drone scandal continues to cast a cloud over the thrilling tourney.
CanWNT head coach Bev Priestman suspended, team docked six points: On Saturday, FIFA banned Priestman and two staffers allegedly involved in the spying scandal for one year and deducted six points (teams earn three for a win, one for a draw, zero for a loss) from CanWNT’s group stage total, making it extremely difficult (but not impossible) for the defending gold medalists to advance.
- Priestman publicly apologized to the players just before they took the field against No. 2 France, and the red and white powered through to eke out a gritty 2–1 stoppage time comeback win. Never, ever, ever quit.
No. 5 USWNT clinches quarter-final spot with commanding 4–1 win over powerhouse No. 4 Germany: The Americans put on their strongest offensive performance in years with a first-half brace from forward Sophia Smith, plus goals from winger Mallory Swanson and late sub Lynn Williams.
- One hiccup? Stalwart center back Tierna Davidson’s first-half injury, which appears to be a lower leg issue. Stay tuned for updates on her status ahead of Wednesday’s sure-to-be-epic group stage finale.
Women’s Artistic Gymnastics
🤸 So ready for it
The GIST: Thanks to dominant performances from seven-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles (even through injury) and reigning all-around champ Sunisa Lee, Team USA women’s gymnastics leads all countries after yesterday’s team qualification. Nothing holding them back.
Biles pushes through calf twinge, competes with joy: The GOAT gave fans a scare when she tweaked her calf while warming up for the floor but, after briefly leaving the competition for medical attention, returned with a taped-up leg and confidently completed her all-around program.
- Though Biles appeared to limp slightly between events, she still shined, finishing with the top all-around score. Awe-inspiring.
- Something we didn’t see yesterday? The highly anticipated new unique skill from Biles on the uneven bars. If she completes it, it’ll become the sixth skill named after her.
Lee triumphs in Olympic return: Lee finished third among all all-around competitors yesterday behind Biles and Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, dazzling on the uneven bars (her signature event) and the beam — a glorious performance, especially considering the multiple kidney issues that nearly kept Lee from competing in Paris.
- But before Biles and Lee go head-to-head in the all-around final on August 1st, they’ll combine forces once again in tomorrow’s 12:15 p.m. ET team final. Bring it on.
Event | ⏰ (ET) | 👀 |
| 🎾 Men’s Singles second round | Today starting at 6 a.m. | 🇪🇸 Rafael Nadal vs. 🇷🇸 Novak Djokovic |
| 🏐 Women’s Beach Volleyball pool play | Today at 9 a.m. | 🇨🇦 Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson |
| 🏉 Women’s Rugby Sevens pool play | Today at 10 a.m. | 🇨🇦 Canada vs. 🇨🇳 People’s Republic of China |
| 🏀 Women’s Basketball group play | Today at 11:15 a.m. | 🇨🇦 Canada vs. 🇫🇷 France |
Together With Golf Canada
ICYMI: American Lauren Coughlin made history by taking home the first-ever Audi precision award at this weekend’s CPKC Women’s Open, the LPGA’s only stop in Canada — and she did it by stunning the tourney’s massive crowds with her near-flawless accuracy en route to her first career LPGA victory.
- The best part? Golf Canada and Audi Canada are also donating to a local charity working to grow the women’s game in Coughlin's name. Who knows — it could be an investment in the 2039 Audi Precision Award winner.
Here’s what has The GIST team currently hyped:
🎁 Who deserves a treat
You, of course. Self-care means celebrating wins big and small, and Peoples Jewellers has just the thing to mark the occasion — even if the reason is simply “surviving Monday.” Go ahead, treat yo’self.*
📚 What to read
This article about the 11 Chinese swimmers who are under intense scrutiny following a doping scandal that went unpunished at the Tokyo Games. The Chinese deny any wrongdoing and insist they’re clean, but competitors are still frustrated.
🥓 Who served up success
Cook ’N’ Bacon, aka synchronized diving teammates Kassidy Cook and Sarah Bacon, who won the U.S.’s first medal of the Games and proved that everything’s better when you do it with your bestie.
🤗 Who’s on the ground in Paris
Olympic trampoline legend and friend of The GIST Rosie MacLennan. With her competition days behind her, MacLennan’s using her gold medal mentality to support other athletes as a member of Team Canada’s Mission Team.
*P.S. This is a sponsored post. Shine bright like a diamond.Today’s email was brought to you by Lauren Tuiskula, Alessandra Puccio, Marga Sison, and Katie Kehoe Foster. Fact-checking by Parul Kanwar. Ops by Briana Ekanem and Marga Sison. Ads by Katie Kehoe Foster and Alessandra Puccio. Managing edits by Lauren Tuiskula. Head of content Ellen Hyslop.