Good morning, Globe Sports Editor Jamie Ross here – I’m in the chair today from Paris to take you through everything you need to know as the Olympics kick off, from scandal and security to the top athletes on our radar. But first the latest news on the wildfires in Jasper, which has left the historic town decimated.
A government photo posted to social media shows the damage on the ground.Woodlands County
A mountain town burns
Jasper’s mayor called the damage “beyond description and comprehension.” As firefighters continue to battle the blaze, here is our latest coverage:
- Dozens of structures in Alberta’s beloved mountain town have been destroyed
- ‘Our whole life – it’s gone’: evacuees find refuge in B.C. town amid shock and grief
- The Trans Mountain pipeline is still running, but rail service has been suspended
- See more photos and video from on the ground in Jasper
Canadian athletes relax outside their home base on Tuesday.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
Olympics 2024
Canadian athletes take on Paris
Cheating has already taken centre stage at the Olympics, and the Games have yet to officially begin.
Usually it is a doping scandal that envelops the world’s biggest sports competition, but this time, for two days leading up to Friday’s opening ceremony, it was a botched amateur spying scheme conducted by staff working for Canada’s women’s soccer team that made international headlines. As The Globe’s Cathal Kelly wrote, the details are amateurish and embarrassing.
Canada was caught, twice, flying a drone over practice sessions of its tournament-opening opponent, New Zealand. The police detained the drone operator, and the two people implicated in the scheme, an analyst and assistant coach, were fired. Head coach Bev Priestman sat out Thursday’s 2-1 win but denied involvement, then on Friday morning was removed as head coach by the Canadian Olympic Committee after new information came to light regarding the previous use of drones against opponents.
It was a humiliating moment for Team Canada officials, who were forced to explain themselves, twice in a day, before they’d even announced who would carry the flag at Friday’s opening ceremony (it’s sprinter Andre De Grasse and weightlifter Maude Charron).
Hours before the ceremony Friday, COC CEO David Shoemaker, days after saying he believed Priestman was unaware of the drone-spying, reversed his position, saying the coach was “highly likely to have been aware.”
The Canada soccer news sucked up so much oxygen it would’ve been easy to miss when WADA, the global doping regulator, was on the podium Thursday at the main press centre taking questions about its handing of a massive PED scandal involving the Chinese swim team. In a nutshell, this past spring it was revealed that 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance before the Tokyo Olympics were cleared to compete at the Games anyway.
China blamed the positive tests on contaminated food, but U.S. anti-doping officials accused WADA of a cover-up.
On the roulette wheel of issues, along with security, sustainability, protests and of course, sports, cheating always hits during the Olympics, but rarely is it a focal point this early.
Seats line the Seine in preparation for the opening ceremony.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
The opening ceremony
After years of planning, today’s festivities will take place along the Seine, with athletes on boats floating along a six-kilometre route, beginning at the Austerlitz bridge in the city’s east, and ending at the Trocadéro near the Eiffel Tower. Canada’s flag bearers are sprinter Andre De Grasse and weightlifter Maude Charron, who both earned gold at the Tokyo Olympics. And it’s rumoured that another Canadian icon will be at the event: Celine Dion. The singer arrived in Paris earlier this week, which the French government said is “not a coincidence.” If Dion performs, it will be her first time since revealing her diagnosis of stiff person syndrome in 2022.
Canada’s total team in Paris is 338 athletes, but some will arrive later in the Games, or they have chosen not to participate in the opening ceremony because their competition is set to begin quickly.
In the name of journalism, columnist Cathal Kelly watched every single opening ceremony he could access to understand what makes the grandest spectacle on the world stage. Here’s what he found.
When to watch: Today at 1:30 p.m. ET
The Globe in Paris
Speaking of the opening ceremony, reporter Robyn Doolittle and photographer Siegfried Modola will be inside the security perimeter to provide coverage of the official opening of the Games.
From the track to the pool, clay courts to hard courts, Globe reporters will be on the ground in Paris for the duration of the Olympics. Aside from Doolittle, reporters Rachel Brady, Grant Robertson and Paul Waldie, and columnist Cathal Kelly, make up a veteran team of international and Olympics journalists who will be filing daily news hits and features to bring readers end-to-end coverage of Paris 2024.
For the most up-to-date coverage from The Globe, visit our Olympics page.
Security
Paris police round up homeless people on Thursday.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
Opposition to an Olympics is nothing new. Critics argue that the outsized costs of holding a Games cannot justify the disruptions it causes, and any benefits gleaned simply aren’t worth it. Security concerns are also elevated whenever an Olympics is under way.
For the opening ceremony, roughly 45,000 police officers, soldiers and security officials will be on patrol. Most of the area around the banks of the Seine has been closed to cars and pedestrians all week. Yesterday, a day before the massive undertaking on the Seine, police removed some 300 homeless people from northern Paris.
Overnight Friday, high speed train service in France experienced a massive disruption, only hours before the country was to officially open the Games.
Rail company SNCF said that because of “coordinated acts of malice in France, affecting several high speed lines, several high speed trains are being diverted or cancelled.”
On its website, the SNCF said the attacks were arson.
As many as 4,500 people were denied accreditation following background checks for the Paris Games, according to the interior minister. Beyond that, the inclusion of Israeli athletes in the competition has stoked anger because of the war in Gaza. Critics say they should be forced to compete as neutral competitors in the same way Russian and Belarusian athletes are classified because of those countries’ roles in the war against Ukraine.
The athletes to watch
The moment Maggie Mac Neil realized she had won gold in Women's 100-metre butterfly in Tokyo.Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail
Given the amount of oxygen sucked up by the above issues, it’s worth remembering the Olympics are, at their core, a sports showcase. The world’s best amateurs, such as Simone Biles (USA) or Katie Ledecky (USA) are on display here, competing across 329 events. There are big-name professionals, as well, scattered throughout the competitions. They are most visible at men’s basketball, where superstars such as LeBron James, Steph Curry (USA), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada) and Nikola Jokic (Serbia) will face each other.
In tennis, best-to-ever-do-it Novak Djokovic (Serbia) leads a large contingent of men’s and women’s pro tour players, along with Félix Auger-Aliassime and Leylah Fernandez (Canada), Coco Gauff (USA) and Carlos Alcarez (Spain). Being played on the red clay at Roland Garros, it feels like the French Open all over again.
Canada is hoping for a big medal haul in Paris, aiming to surpass Tokyo’s 24, including seven golds. Here are some of the Canadian athletes to keep an eye on:
Summer McIntosh (swimming): At only 17, McIntosh may be the greatest swimmer to ever come out of Canada. The Toronto native is a precision freestyler, elite at the butterfly and a talented backstroker who could win as many as six medals, which would set a record for the most won at a single Olympics by a Canadian. When to watch: Saturday, July 27, at 2:45 p.m. ET for 400-metre freestyle.
Maggie Mac Neil (swimming): Mac Neil pulled four medals in Tokyo, including a gold in the 100-metre butterfly. In Paris, the 24-year-old is attempting the hardest thing in Canadian swimming: to repeat as a gold medalist. No one has done it. When to watch: Sunday, July 28, at 2:20 p.m. ET for 100-metre butterfly final.
Andre De Grasse (athletics): After enduring some inconsistency and a nagging toe injury, De Grasse heads to Paris on a winning streak. He won both the 100-metre and 200-metre in the East Coast Relays, and has his eyes on the podium for those two races, plus the 4x100-metre relay. De Grasse has a record of success: He’s won a medal in every event he’s competed in for the past two Olympics. When to watch: Saturday, Aug. 3, for the 100 metres, round one.
Philip Kim (breaking): Breaking makes its debut at the Paris Games, where Canada’s own B-Boy Phil Wizard hopes his footwork, power moves, freezes and top rocks – all basic components of breaking – will catapult him to the top of the podium. He’s no stranger there: He won the gold medal at the 2022 breaking world championships, silver at the 2023 worlds and gold at the 2023 Pan Am Games. When to watch: Saturday, Aug. 10, at 10 a.m. ET
Sanoa Dempfle-Olin (surfing): Canadians are traditionally more accustomed to carving turns on a mountain than on a wave, but Sanoa Dempfle-Olin from Tofino, B.C., is set to be the country’s first Olympic surfer. The competition takes place in Tahiti, located more than 15,500 kilometres from Paris, making it the farthest location from an Olympic host city to stage a medal event. When to watch: Saturday, July 27, at 5:48 p.m. ET for round one.
More reading
- Canada’s men are ready to break out of their 12-year swimming slump and join the women on the podium
- Team Canada is brimming with a new generation of Olympic athletes, complete with serious medal ambitions
With reports from Samantha Edwards
The Wrap
What else we’re following
At home: A DNA test shows lawyer Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond “most likely” has the Indigenous ancestry she claimed.
Abroad: Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech in U.S. Congress has sent ripples of anger across the Middle East.
In the cupboard: Have you bought bread at a Loblaw store? It might be a while before money from the price-fixing settlement makes it way to your wallet.
On the screen: Barry Hertz was, um, not a fan of the summer blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine.