The 2016 Olympic Summer Games begin their two-week run at the centre of the world stage Friday when over 11,000 athletes from 205 countries (plus a team of independent athletes and a team of athletes who are refugees) file into Rio de Janeiro’s Estádio do Maracanã for the opening ceremonies.
Among–and amidst–them will be 314 Canadians athlete led by Rosie MacLellan, Canada’s lone gold-medal winner at the 2012 London Games, when she placed first in the women’s trampoline.
Canadian Olympic officials are shooting for 19 medals at the Rio Games, one more than the team won on London, and a far cry from 1984 in Los Angeles, when Canadians won 44 medals, including 10 golds.
(That all-time high performance comes with a caveat, however, because 14 Eastern Bloc countries and allies boycotted the Games.
It is also appears unlikely that any Canadian will match the incomparable Donovan Bailey’s performance in Atlanta in 1996, who he won two golds–in the 100-metre dash and the 4×100 relay, capturing not just Canada’s but the world’s imagination and admiration.
Still, Canada has a chance to make its presence felt in the Games signature track and field events.
Shawn Barber and Derek Drouin are the current world champions in the pole vault and high jump respectively and sprinter Andre De Grasse is the reigning Pan Am champion in the 100 and 200 metres, though his chances of upsetting Ursain Bolt of Jamaica in the sprints would have to be called remote. But he could have a shot at bronze.
Individual Canadian athletes to watch include golfer Brooke Henderson, boxer Ariane Fortin, kayaker Mark de Jong (a bronze medal winner in London), swimmer Ryan Cochrane (a silver in London) and the aforementioned MacLennan.
Teams to watch: Canada’s so-called Fab IV women’s diving team and the women’s rugby sevens. Both are strong contenders to medal.
Depending on the draw, both the women’s soccer team and the women’s basketball team could make their way to the podium, though their chances are somewhat long.
To handicap Canada’s chances, RCI spoke with Bruce Dowbiggin, an award-winning author, broadcaster and journalist.
Dowbiggin, who hosts a website called Not the Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/) has covered the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games and the world’s great sporting events since 1982.
He spoke by phone from his home in Calgary on Thursday.
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