How Penny Oleksiak is returning to the Olympics on her own terms
Seven-time Olympic medalist Penny Oleksiak sits down with Arash Madani to discuss fighting through injuries to return for her third Olympics in Paris, making the shift from superstar to teammate, and why she’s still excited to go to the pool.
And so, it ends with a whimper, and not with a bang, for the Canadian women’s team at the Paris Olympics.
Canada entered Saturday’s quarterfinal against Germany with a world of self-belief after going a perfect 3-0-0 in the group stage, registering two come-from-behind victories and twice collecting three points when facing a must-win situation.
But all good things eventually must come to an end, even for reigning Olympic champions. And so, it came to pass for Les Rouges after they came up short against the Germans.
Tied 0-0 following 120 minutes of regulation and extra time at Marseille’s Stade Vélodrome, Canada suffered a 4-2 penalty shootout loss to bow out of the tournament and go home early.
The loss squashed Canada’s hopes of winning back-to-back golds and claiming a fourth consecutive Olympic medal. It also drew an official end to a remarkable run at the Paris Games by the Canadians who won so much admiration by doing so with the spectre of the ongoing spying/drone scandal hanging over its head.
It was a heartbreaking result for Canada against Germany, a nation it has enjoyed little success against in the past. The Germans won 15 of their previous 17 encounters against the Canadians dating back to their first meeting in 1994, including earning a semifinal victory en route to winning gold at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Ranked No. 4 in the world by FIFA, four spots higher than Canada, Germany is one of the most decorated nations in women’s soccer, having won two World Cups (2003 and 2007), an Olympic gold medal (2016), three bronzes (2000, 2004 and 2008) and eight European Championships (from 1989 to 2013).
And while the Canadians can take pride in going toe-to-toe with the Germans for 120 minutes on Saturday, they’ll also be left wondering what might have been.
Canada’s Olympic gold medal won at Tokyo in 2021 was secured on the strength of the team’s goalkeeping and defending. The Canadians’ defensive reputation has remained firmly intact since then, as evidenced by their display in Paris, having conceded only two goals and recording a pair of clean sheets across four games.
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The veteran centre back pairing of Vanessa Gilles and Kadeisha Buchanan, abetted by youngster Jade Rose (competing in her first Olympics) combined to stunning effect throughout the tournament. Like they did in Canada’s previous three games, the trio put on a defensive masterclass against Germany, thwarting their attacking advances at every turn. Timely tackles, important clearances inside the box and snuffing out mounting German danger before it fully developed was the order of the day from Gilles, Buchanan and Rose.
All three defenders are still in their 20s – Rose hasn’t even turned professional yet, as she’ll be entering her senior year of NCAA soccer at Harvard University in the fall. So, the future of Canada’s solid defensive core looks set to remain in place for many years to come.
But the Canadians’ longstanding scoring issues and lack of ruthlessness in front of goal finally caught up with them in Marseille. A nondescript performance in the opening half saw Canada produce very little in attack, and it was lucky not to be down 2-0 going into the halftime break.
Only when interim manager Andy Spence made a triple substitution in the 56th minute did the Canadian attack come alive. Forwards Evelyne Viens, Cloé Lacasse and Adriana Leon replaced the under-performing Jordyn Huitema and Nichelle Prince, and fullback Gabrielle Carle. The new trio looked lively in spearheading the attack and helped tip the momentum in Canada’s favour. It was Leon who had the best scoring chance when she slipped in behind the defence only to be denied by German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger on a breakaway.
Viens, Lacasse and Leon, working in concert with Janine Beckie and Ashley Lawrence, continued to force Germany’s defenders onto the backfoot with their consistent pressure. But the lack of finishing from the Canadian quintet was noticeable, as Berger only had to make one more difficult save the rest of the way when she stopped Lawrence’s dangerous shot at the near post.
For all of the possession that Canada enjoyed in the final third of the pitch, in the end, it meant very little, and the team’s lack of killer instinct continued to let it down in the penalty shootout.
Berger made comfortable saves on tame attempts from Lawrence and Leon, while Beckie just managed to squeeze her shot under the German goalkeeper as the ball spun over the goal line. Only midfielder Quinn’s attempt, a textbook penalty in every sense of the word, left Berger with no chance and was a strike from a player who excluded confidence as they stepped up to the spot.
There’s genuine attacking talent on this Canadian team. Leon scored a tournament-high six goals and tallied two assists for Canada at this year’s Concacaf W Gold Cup. She was also named to the competition’s Best XI. Viens finished as the top scorer in Italy’s first division in 2023-24 in her debut season for AS Roma. Huitema has long been heralded as the next great Canadian goal scorer.
But for some reason, Canada’s forwards have a bit of a history of under-performing on the game’s biggest stages, the FIFA World Cup and Olympics. It was telling that it was Gilles who finished as the team’s top scorer in Paris with two goals – the same number of goals scored combined by the team’s entire crop of forwards.
A strong defence is the foundation of most championship teams, and on that front, Canada has very little to worry about going forward. What the Canadians have to worry about is getting more production out of their forwards. Someone has to step up and lead the charge in a confident fashion, much in the same way that iconic captain Christine Sinclair did for so many years before she announced her international retirement last year.
Until that happens, the Canadian women’s team will continue to tread water and remain in a complacent funk.
John Molinaro is one of the leading soccer journalists in Canada, having covered the game for over 20 years for several media outlets, including Sportsnet, CBC Sports and Sun Media. He is currently the editor-in-chief of TFC Republic, a website dedicated to in-depth coverage of Toronto FC and Canadian soccer. TFC Republic can be found here.
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