The Olympics did not get off to the greatest of starts for Humboldt’s Brianne Theisen-Eaton. Facing an uphill climb after day one, Theisen-Eaton came back on day two of the Olympic Heptathlon and put forth a gutsy effort, resulting in a bronze medal.
She opened her competition with the 100m hurdles where she finished sixth with a time of 13.18, finishing 0.25 off her personal best time, earning a total of 1097 points.
The next event was the high jump where Theisen-Eaton finished fifth after clearing 1.86m, just 0.03m off her personal best jump. The successful jump earned her 1054 points and saw her sit fifth overall through two events, 113 points behind the leader.
Theisen-Eaton returned to the Olympic Stadium for the second half of her day one events. The first was the shot put where she finished 17th with a throw of 13.45m, missing her personal best by 0.54m. With her throw Theisen-Eaton earned 757 points, her lowest total of the competition. This kept her firmly in fifth place but dropped points to the leader falling 199 points behind.
The final event of day one was the 200m, an event where Theisen-Eaton just set a new personal best time of 23.33 in May. Theisen-Eaton was not able to conjure up the same speed during the race however as she finished ninth in the event with a time of 24.18. Due to her struggles in the event Theisen-Eaton picked up 963 points and saw her drop from fifth to sixth overall, 186 points behind the leader.
After regrouping after day one Theisen-Eaton returned to the track on day two looking to improve on her sixth place finish after day one. Â Â Â
The first event of day two was the long jump, where Theisen-Eaton finished fourth jumping 6.48m, missing her personal best by 0.24m.
With her jump, Theisen-Eaton added another 1001 points to her score and moved her back up from sixth to fifth place with just two events to go as she trailed the leader by 146 points.
The penultimate event of the competition was the javelin, another event where Theisen-Eaton improved on her personal best this season with a throw of 47.74m in May.
While not quite having the same form as she had in May, Theisen-Eaton still managed a solid throw finishing with a throw of 47.36m, earning 809 points, and moving her into third place overall, 251 points out of the lead with just one event to go.
The final event of the competition was the 800m, the same event Theisen-Eaton used to complete a comeback victory during the World Indoor Championships in March. This time Theisen-Eaton could not complete the comeback as she ran a very solid race finishing with a time of 2:09.50, missing a personal best by just 0:00.47. The solid race earned Theisen-Eaton 972 points as she finished third 157 points out of first and 122 points behind the silver medalist.
With her competition now complete Theisen-Eaton will now turn her attention to the Olympic Decathlon competition, where he husband Ashton Eaton opens defense of his Olympic gold medal on Aug. 17.
Canada sees success in first week of games
It has been a busy first week at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as there have been 515 medals already handed out, with a number of events already having concluded.
The games have also been very successful for Canadian athletes as they have captured a medal everyday for the first nine days of the Olympics, setting a record for the most consecutive days winning at least one medal at any Olympic games, summer or winter.
The Olympics got off to a great start for the Canadians right from day one as the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team captured the countries first medal, winning bronze, ending a 20 year drought for the women’s swimming team who last won a medal in Atlanta in 1996.
The medal was also a historic one for the Canadian Olympic Team as it marked just the third Olympic medal the women’s 4x100m freestyle team had ever won and their first in 40 years since they took bronze at 1976 Olympics in Montreal.
After winning the bronze with the relay team on day one Canada’s Penny Oleksiak followed that performance up with another great swim as she swam her way to a silver medal in the women’s 100m butterfly. The medal was the first 100m-butterfly medal by a Canadian women and the first medal winner in the event since Bruce Robertson won silver in 1972.
Canada’s swimming team continued their hot start to the Olympics on day three as Kylie Masse tied for bronze in the 100m backstroke. Masse broke a long medal draught for Canada in the event as she became the first to claim a medal since Nancy Garapick won bronze 40 years ago in Montreal and just the third to ever win a medal in the event.
For the first time of these games the Canadians won two medals on the same day as the women’s rugby sevens team matched Masse winning a bronze medal of their own beating Great Britain 33-10 in the bronze medal match. The bronze medal was a history setter as well as Canada won the first ever bronze medal in the rugby sevens competition as it made its Olympic debut.
Canada was back at it in the pool on day four, but it was off the diving platform this time instead of the swimming lanes.
Divers, Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion, claimed the bronze medal in the women’s 10m platform synchronized diving competition as they defended their bronze medal from four years prior in London.
After opening the Olympics with a bronze medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay, the team was back on day five as they added to their collection in the 4x200m freestyle relay by claiming bronze.
After five consecutive Olympics being shutout since the relay first became an Olympic sport in 1996 the Canadians finally got themselves in the podium winning the first women’s 4x200m freestyle relay medal in Canadian history and the first for either gender since 1928 when the men won Canada’s only other 4x200m freestyle relay medal when they also claimed bronze.
Oleksiak continued her fantastic run through the Olympics as she claimed Canada’s first gold medal on day six as she tied for first in the 100m freestyle in Olympic record time. The win was Oleksiak’s fourth medal of the Olympics setting a new Canadian Summer Olympics record for most medals won in single games.
Oleksiak also made history as the first Canadian female swimmer to win a medal in the 100m freestyle race dating back 104 years. She also became the first Canadian swimmer to win gold since 1992 when Mark Tewksbury won the 100m backstroke.
Day seven was Canada’s best yet as they won three medals, including one of each colour.
The day was started at Lagoa Stadium where Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee teamed up to win the silver medal in the women’s lightweight double sculls competition. The medal was Canada’s only rowing medal at these Olympics and just their second women’s lightweight double sculls medal following Tracy Cameron and Melanie Kok who won bronze in 2008.
A few hours later Canada was back on the podium as Canada’s opening ceremonies flag bearer Rosie MacLennan successfully defended her gold from London in trampoline. The medal was one of the safer bets for the Canadians as they have dominated the female trampoline competition winning five medals in the five Olympics, including two gold, two silver and one bronze.
Closing out the day was Hilary Caldwell continuing Canada’s resurgence in the pool as she won the bronze medal in the 200m backstroke, marking Canada’s first women’s 200m backstroke medal since 1976, and first 200m backstroke medal for either gender since 1984. With the medal win Caldwell pushed Canada to six swimming medals pushing them one past the last three Olympics combined.
At the velodrome the women’s track cycling team picked up a bronze medal thanks to a nearly four second win over New Zealand in the bronze medal final to retain the bronze medal they won in the inaugural competition in London. With the medal win the Canadians also matched their medal haul on the track from both London and Beijing.
The women were joined on the podium by Humboldt’s own Brianne Theisen-Eaton who claimed Canada’s eighth bronze medal and 12th medal overall in the women’s heptathlon. Theisen-Eaton became the first Canadian heptathlete to ever claim a medal at the Olympics.
On day nine it was young sprinter Andre De Grasse turn to win a medal winning bronze in the men’s 100m, marking Canada’s first medal in the 100m since Donovan Bailey won gold in 1996. With the medal the Canadian track team has already matched the most athletics medals since Canada won three in 1992.
Looking ahead to this week St. Brieux’s Jillian Gallays competes in women’s 53kg wrestling with her competition taking place Aug. 18.
Gallays comes into the Olympics with a wealth of experience having competed in international events for many years including claiming a couple of bronze medals in 2014 at the Commonwealth Games, and the United World Wrestling World Championships.
With roughly one week remaining in the Games of the 31st Olympiad, Canada has set out on a good pace as they look to match the Canadian Olympic Committee’s goal of 19 medals.
