The Paris Olympic Games have just kicked off, marking the beginning of over two weeks of Olympic sports with athletes competing from all over the world.
This year, Team Canada boasts over 40 athletes from the GTA. Here is a look at some of the top athletes the region has produced, according to Team Canada’s official Olympic website.
Summer McIntosh
Toronto’s Summer McIntosh, who made her Olympic debut at 14, quickly rose through the ranks of international swimming to became one of Canada’s best swimmers.
At the 2023 Canadian Trials, McIntosh broke both the 400m freestyle and 400m individual medley world records. While her 400m freestyle record was surpassed in 2023, McIntosh managed to break her own 400m individual medley record at the 2024 Canadian Olympic Trials.
Andre De Grasse
Markham sprinter Andre De Grasse has made a name for himself on the Olympic stage. De Grasse managed to win six medals in his first two Games to become Canada’s most decorated male summer Olympian.
Aaron Brown
Toronto sprinter Aaron Brown, a two-time Olympic medallist in the 4x100m relay, is also competing in Paris. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, he was part of the team that secured bronze with a national record time of 37.64 seconds.
Penny Oleksiak
Toronto-born swimmer Penny Oleksiak is Canada’s most decorated Olympian, with a collection of seven medals. In her Olympic debut in 2016, Oleksiak broke records to become the first Canadian to earn four medals in a single summer Games.
Josh Liendo
Toronto native Josh Liendo is the first Black Canadian swimmer to achieve gold and an individual medal at a major international championship. He missed an Olympic medal in his 2020 debut by six-tenths of a second.
Bianca Andreescu
Tennis player Bianca Andreescu will be making her Olympic debut in Paris 2024. Andreescu made headlines in 2019 when she defeated Serena Williams to win the U.S. Open women’s singles championship.
Katie Vincent
Mississauga’s sprint canoeist Katie Vincent made history when she secured a medal in the first women’s canoe events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Shady Elnahas
Shady Elnahas made his Olympic debut in judo at the Tokyo Olympics back in 2020. He reached the bronze medal match in the men’s 100 kg judo event, tying for fifth place.
Brian Yang
Brain Yang, Toronto’s badminton prodigy, is also set to play in Paris. At the age of 14, Yang became the youngest to win the under-19 singles national title. In 2017, when he was 15, he won the under-23 title.
He became Canada’s youngest national champion after winning the Canadian National Championships’ men’s singles title in 2019, according to Badminton Canada.
Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson
Torontonians Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, beach volleyball team, are ranked third in the world, according to the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB). They opened their 2024 season with a silver medal at the Elite 16 in Doha.
Fay De Fazio Ebert
Skateboarder Fay De Fazio Ebert, 14, will become Canada’s youngest Olympian at the 2024 Paris Games.
Men’s basketball
Toronto and the wider Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area has been a hotbed for NBA talent for years now, and many of those professionals will compete for their country this summer.
The GTA has produced six of those players: Andrew Nembhard, Dillon Brooks, Dwight Powell, RJ Barrett and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, all of whom play for the NBA, and Melvin Ejim, who plays for Unicaja in Spain’s professional league, Liga ACB.
This will be the first time the men’s team will compete in basketball since the Summer Games hosted by Sydney in 2000.
NBA stars Kelly Olynyk and Dwight Powell sit down with CBC’s Dwight Drummond and share why heading to the Olympics for Team Canada is a lifelong dream. Plus the veteran players share their connections to Toronto, including how Powell was discovered while riding a TTC streetcar.
Barrett, who plays for the Toronto Raptors, “was instrumental in helping Canada’s U-19 team win the FIBA World Cup” in 2017, according to the NBA.
Houston Rockets’ Brooks, meanwhile, was awarded the Best Defensive Player of FIBA World Cup 2023 title.
The team will represent Canada as they strive to bring home another medal, adding to the country’s Olympic basketball history, which includes a silver medal win during the sport’s 1936 debut at the Berlin Games.