Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canadian Women’s Soccer Team Did It!

Episode Date: August 1, 2024

In hour one, Josh Elliott-Wolfe and Jason Brough dive into the Canadian Women's Soccer team going undefeated in the group stage which now puts them into the Olympic quarter-finals (4:00). The guys as well go through other main Olympic headlines from yesterday's action. Later, CBC's Ben Steiner joins the show to further break down Canada's soccer success story so far at these games despite the massive hole the players had to start in given the six point deduction they incurred in the group stage due to the drone scandal (26:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-d Drills it. Right field. Down the line. Grand slam. The happiest of holidays. Swing and a fly ball up center field. Well hit. Raley's back there all the way to the wall. And it's off the wall. Here comes the run. Here comes O'Neal. He will score.

Raffy delivers. I kind of live by saying if you ain't got no haters, you ain't popping. So hate away. Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Thursday. It is Halford and Brough, but there is no Halford. It is Josh Elliott-Wolfe. Jason Brough is still here.

Good morning, Jason. Good morning, Josh. How are you? I'm doing well. Good. Basketball Ben, your last day here on the show. How are you? I'm okay.

You're okay? You're okay. Yeah, I'm okay. You're okay. There's a reason for this, isn't there? We'll get into it later. How are you? Good morning. Much better than Ben. Hello. Halpern Abrupt is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda

dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. Text in 650 650 the dumbar lumber text line the bridge street dumbar lumber and ladder has moved to progress way in tilbury's industrial park more room more product more awesome details at dumbar lumber.com we are coming to you live from the kintec studio kintec canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star google reviews sore feet what are you waiting for kintec that Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soar feet, what are you waiting for?

Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. On the show today, a few guests. We got Ben Steiner at 6.30 covering the Olympics for CBC Sports. Canada won yesterday. They beat Columbia. They got it done. They did it. We'll get more into it in a few moments,

but he will join us at 6.30 to talk about that and maybe some other stories going on at the Olympics as well. 7 o'clock, Adnan Virk, MLB Network, NHL Network, Cinephile Pod. Trade deadline is done. Who looks the best coming out of it? Jays, Mariners, his thoughts on those teams. And 7.30, Nabil Karim, NBA on TNT and covering basketball for CBC in Paris. Canada not playing today. They play their final group match tomorrow. Has everyone played two games now on the men's side? I believe so, yes. So we can kind of get an update from Nabil on how the Canadians have looked, how the Americans have looked, who's been the best teams so far or surprise teams

or who's been disappointments in that tournament that's going to really start heating up soon. So working in reverse, 7.30 to Bill Kareem, 7 o'clock at Nanverk and at 6.30, Ben Steiner. That's what's happening on the show. Let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No.

What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance, making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training.

Visit bccsa.ca. We will start with what we mentioned. Canada. They beat Columbia. Vanessa Gilles with another clutch goal. The lone goal of the game as Canada wins. 1-0. They're on to the quarterfinals.

They will play Germany. They did it. Yeah, it won't get any easier against Germany, but you really have to tip your cap to the players given all they've had to endure during this tournament. Now, some Canadians, and a few of you have texted into the Dunbar Lumber text line with your thoughts on this, some Canadians might still be hesitant to cheer for them. few of you have texted into the Dunbar Lumber text line with your thoughts on this. Some Canadians

might still be hesitant to cheer for them. Um, but you know, I said when the punishment was handed down that I liked the punishment and a lot of people are like, what are you talking about? Like that's six point punishment. That was way too harsh. But the reason I liked it was because it was a harsh penalty and it did send a message and hopefully that message has been heard not only by Canada, but by the rest of the world. But that punishment still left the door open for the players on Canada to control their own destiny. If they won all three games, they were most likely going to go through to the quarterfinals. And that is exactly what they did. And frankly, that punishment might have served to help this Canadian squad, um, galvanize around the moment. Uh, as you mentioned, Vanessa Gilles has been the hero for Canada scoring the winning goals against both France and Columbia yesterday. Just a perfectly timed run into the penalty area

and a great free kick, great ball from Captain Jesse Fleming and Gilles made no mistake. Canada was clearly the better and more talented team against Colombia. I think that was obvious right from the outside of the game. Um, but it did take them a while to break through.

I thought they were going to score in the first 10 minutes the way they looked, but they didn't. And then the game kind of evened out a little bit. The Columbians did have a few chances here and there. Um, and it did take a while for Canada to

break through. It came in the 61st minute. And then after the 61st minute, after they did score, it was still nervous times because all it would have taken was one blunder by Canada or one brilliant moment by Columbia to tie it back up and for Canada to be eliminated. As I mentioned, Germany is going to be a stiff test on Saturday. They are one of the top teams in the world. So is Canada though.

And so was France when Canada beat France. But the Germans finished their group stage with two wins and one loss. Although the one loss was a pretty significant one, 4-1 to the Americans, who I imagine are still the favorites to win this tournament. But if I was the Germans, I would probably be looking at that draw and going, ugh, do we really want this Canadian team?

Hopefully they've got a bit of a, well, we're just happy we got through the group stage attitude. But I don't know. I don't think they will have that attitude because they are the defending gold medalists in this tournament. And if I was Germany, I probably would not want anything to do with Canada. It's going to be a very dramatic game and this has turned into the most dramatic story for Canada at these Olympics with all due respect to Summer McIntosh in the pool and the men's basketball team. This has created the most highs and lows of the tournament for Canada so far. And so you mentioned that like Germany, like, hey, maybe there's an element of happy to be there.

I do wonder how much other teams in the tournament are going to look at Canada and the punishment and everything that went into it and be like, man, we really want to beat them. Because if I was a fan of another country or another team, I would be mad that Canada made it through. Or at least I would want to be the team that beats them. How about the team that didn't make it because Canada did make it?

And I think that might be Australia. I think it was Australia. Yeah, it was Australia. If you're the Australians, not only are you mad that the Rugby Sevens team lost to Canada, you're probably mad that Canada wasn't just outright banned from this tournament. Australia hates Canada right now, I'm pretty sure. They seem to maybe, spoiler alert for women's basketball, maybe be about to get a win over Canada in that. But everything else, Canada has just dominated or beat Australia in these Olympics, regardless of what sport it has been.

Before we move on from that, there's also, so we talked about Germany, but the road, even if you get through Germany, is pretty difficult because the US and Japan is the other quarterfinal on their side. So, I mean. So are we looking at a possible rematch of Canada and the United States in the semifinals? Would be exciting. I would welcome it. Yeah, that'd be incredible.

But Japan's a good team too. Japan's a good team. So Germany ranked fourth according to FIFA World Rankings. US fifth and Japan seventh. Canada eighth. But there's a few teams that are ranked in that that aren't even there.

Like England, which would have been Great Britain. They're either one or two and they're not at this tournament. Those rankings are, they can provide a bit of guidance, but when you're talking about the top 10 teams in the world, there really isn't a whole lot that separates them as we saw when Canada beat France in France.

And I think that was their most impressive win, that win, because they were supposed to beat New Zealand, uh, and they fell behind to France one nil and they came back and win that and won that game spectacularly in stoppage time and that allowed them to have their win and go through moment against Columbia. You know, I don't think Canada actually played

all that well against Columbia, to be perfectly honest with you. I was worried for a while. I thought they had a really good start, but I thought some of their passing was wasteful. And I still think the issue with this team, Vanessa Gilles, I don't know if she's supposed to be their scorer now, but the issue with the team, when Christine Sinclair finally started to fall off a little bit and now she's not on the team anymore, the issue is how are they going to score goals? I think Jordan Haidama, who I realize is local, needs to do more.

She needs to find the back of the net. She needs to be an impact player for this team. To actually win a gold medal, Canada relied a lot on defensive play, which is fine, and winning in penalty kicks to get the gold medal in Tokyo, but that is a really tough way to win and you need some luck on your side. It would be nice if some of these forays up the field had a little more clinical finishing i would say that was my only thought from the match yeah i agree it was a

it was a little sloppy did you want to move on to what else happened yesterday or anything yeah i think we should i think we should we should throw out a little love for Felix Auger-Aliassime, who is in a position right now to win not one, but two medals. He's still got a long way to go, but Felix, who's still only 23. It's just crazy. I feel like we've been talking to him for a while. He's only 23. Advanced to the men's quarterfinals with a victory over Daniil Medvedev, which is a, that's a big win, pretty good win.

Um, but he has also, uh, joined forces with Gabriela Dabrowski, uh, and in the mixed doubles and they have, uh, they defeated the third seed American duo of Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz earning a berth in the mixed doubles semifinals. So I guess at the very least, that duo will be playing for a medal at some point.

Yeah, so the singles quarters for Felix, that goes at 7 o'clock today, our time, against Norway's Kasper Ruud. And then the mixed doubles with Gabrielle Dabrowski is at 830 so yeah that those two are at least playing for bronze but they have a chance to obviously play for gold and then um if Felix beats Kasper Ruud same situation he'd move on to the semis and he's been um like I always feel like the the tennis and to uh to an extent the golf as well

though it's also new in the Olympics kind of goes underrated a little bit because it's not, we're kind of used to only caring about those at the majors whereas it shows up at the Olympics and it's still interesting but I feel like other sports kind of I think the golf especially has

taken some time to make an impact. Down in Rio, the players used the Zika virus as kind of an excuse to not go, but a lot of it was just like, I don't think they wanted to, but I think they've heard from players that have been there about the experience at the Olympics. And I think they've realized that, you know, you can win a major, but what about the guys

that have won majors that want to go and win something else, right? And it's special. And the men's golf gets underway today. I guess it's already underway. Corey Connors and Nick Taylor for Canada, but it's a really good field. Um,

you know, you've got guys like, um, you know, Scotty Scheffler and Xander Shoffley for the Americans. Rory McIlroy is there, you know,

he can't win a major, but maybe you can win a gold medal. Um, the way they do the qualifying, if you're wondering, for the golf is partly based on the official world golf ranking. So the top 15 players

automatically make the field, but there's a maximum of four per country. So off the top of my head, basketball, Ben, you might know this. For the Americans, it would be Xander Shoffley, Scotty Scheffler. I think Morikawa is there.

And Wyndham Clark. And Wyndham Clark. Good for him. Wyndham Clark is there. Okay. Each country is guaranteed two spots for the two top-ranked players from that country. So there are also some players that are not really expected to be contenders there.

So it is an interesting field. It's being played at the course where the Ryder Cup was a few years ago, where the Europeans dominated the Americans. What's it called? The National? Is it the National? And I think that's what it's called. I'm not sure, but it was a massacre.

Yeah, yeah, it was. And, uh, Rory had kind of a cocky, uh, quote the other day. Maybe Rory should stay away from the cocky quotes,

but, uh, Rory said, uh, I think he got a question about what the rough was like at the course. And he said, you should ask the Americans.

I wasn't really in it when we played the Ryder cup. That's a good quote though. It is a good quote. And maybe he just was just joking around, but, uh. I wasn't really in it when we played the Ryder Cup. That's a good quote, though. It is a good quote, and maybe he just was just joking around, but I don't know. Rory's not exactly in the position right now to be too cocky. Richmond's Evan Dunphy was in action overnight, our time, in the 20K race walk.

This is a guy that won bronze in Tokyo in the 50K race walk, which is too far to walk. That's also no longer a thing, apparently. It's no longer a thing. They took away his distance. Yeah, they took away his distance. So now it's just the 20K. Spoiler alert, if you've PVR'd the race walk, first of all, yikes.

Good for you there. But he's a local. I stayed up to watch it yesterday. He's a local, so I know a lot of people were interested. So I think he finished, spoiler alert, I think he finished fifth. He did. His brother was the emcee at my wedding, just full disclosure. Wow.

Really? Yeah. Adam Dunphy. Did you get free Kraft Dinner? I got a box of the Evan Dunphy. Oh, wow. That is awesome. He's a good dude.

He's a really good guy. I wish the result was better yesterday But it was still good to see him back out there So you've met him and everything One time I think I met him Does he walk fast around? Like does he He's not

Does that kind of He's quick He's a pretty skinny guy right So he zips around really well. He zips around. Oh, yeah. He doesn't- When he's not race walking, you would think either he's always really fast or maybe he's

a bit of a stroller. Maybe he strolls because he doesn't want to- I was reading this article yesterday in the Globe and Mail on Summer McIntosh and on all her, um, um, once she's done in the pool, all the focus turns to getting rest and, you know, having a massage. And she's like, she said some quotes, she's like, I'm a world-class napper, right?

She's, everything is thought out, um, after she gets out of the pool, like how she's going to eat. And I know that's not surprising or anything, but it was just very disciplined. And I thought for a 17 year old to be that disciplined with all the other stuff. Right. And I, and I know we're, we're, uh, we're

learning more and more about really the power of rest. You know, we talk about that with, with the Canucks and, and, you know, Rick Talkett sometimes says, you know, I'd love to practice, but we're not going to practice today because we've got to have rest and a team like the Canucks that has a tough travel schedule has to

be especially careful of that. But anyway, I was just wondering if Evan Duffy was like, I'm not walking anywhere because I'm resting right now. Well, you got to save your steps, right? You got to save your steps. You only have so many. For injury purposes.

Yeah. You don't want to overdo it when you're training. Speaking got to save your steps, right? You got to save your steps. You only have so many. For injury purposes, yeah. You don't want to overdo it when you're training. Speaking of Summer McIntosh, she's swimming for gold in the 200-meter fly. That's what they call it. The fly. We got called out yesterday. We were like, no, they don't call it the fly. And it's like, yeah, no.

They call it the butterfly. Yeah, they called you out. They called you out. They call it the butterfly. No, I know it's called the butterfly. I know, but you're being hip. But I'm being hip. You're trying to make a thing happen.

Yeah, they call it the fly. Like that's, I mean, swimmer's lingo. Guys, I got my blue badge. Okay, so I know how to swim. She's a significant favorite to win gold, but I suppose you can watch out for the American Regan Smith as well. But I think it would be a pretty big disappointment if Summer McIntosh did not

win gold today, which is crazy considering she's already won gold. She's already won silver. And again, she's 17. Yeah. It's absolutely crazy crazy her interview yesterday was really fantastic after her semi-final she said i have i had trouble seeing the other swimmers i'm usually really good at knowing where they're all at but i knew where regan was and she when

she said it i was like okay you know who your main competition but i think because regan was like right beside her but just like i. I saw some splashing beside me. I was like, okay, I know who that's going to be. I feel like she knows who she has to beat and she seems like really, really determined out there too. Yeah. She seems incredibly mature too when she's interviewed on camera. She just seems very, very comfortable with everything.

And hopefully that continues because we have seen a lot of young athletes that have achieved at a high level. I actually think Regan Smith, I think she's been through some issues because she was, I mean, what do they, a young prodigy, a prodigy swimmer. Um, and then she's, she's gone through some tough times because of that. So hopefully summer can keep her head after these Olympics because, you know, we talk about how she has to be prepared or how she has to be careful when she's not in the pool during the tournament, you know, get rest, eat right, um, take care of your body.

But one of the challenges for her after these Olympics is she's going to be a household name in Canada. She's going to get invited to all the parties. She's going to get in, you know, she's going to be, um, people are going to want to talk to her. Her time is going to become, um, more valuable to her because other people will want her time and other people will want to cash in on the fact that she is, um, a household name in Canada. And, um, you know, we, we've seen, uh, Penny

Oleksiak, um, and we've heard the stories about Penny Oleksiak kind of, you know, we, we've seen, uh, Penny Oleksiak, um, and we've heard the stories about Penny Oleksiak kind of, you know, falling out of love with swimming because maybe she feels like, well, I didn't get to party or I didn't get to do the fun things because I was being so disciplined, uh, about swimming. And that's like fair too. Totally fair.

Yeah. Totally fair. Um, and, um, so I think summer story is going to be really interesting to follow. Like if you really want to be, um, a great and not just a flash in the pan, you have to maintain the commitment, you know, even the greatest athletes, even Tiger Woods.

I don't know if you heard about him, but he got a little bit distracted in his life. He got a little bit distracted and there were some things that he had to deal with later in his life that at some point, at one point, nobody would have ever predicted. I'm always hesitant, you know, when we spoke with Devin Heroux and I love Devin's attitude and I loved his energy and I loved his passion for talking about it. But

when you're talking about, and you're looking, you're looking ahead and going like, you know, you expect this person who's again, 17 to break all these records and become Canada's greatest swimmer of all time. And, and it's okay to say it's possible, but I just think so much happens in people's lives that you just cannot predict. And, um, you know, one of the great things and one of the most incredible things I think about a guy like Sidney Crosby is when he has he ever been involved in anything that's like untoward or when have you ever heard that Sid has, uh, you know, he's not as enthusiastic about the game anymore, or he's just, he's going through something.

Right. enthusiastic about the game anymore or he's just he's going through something right um the closest came from something that he wasn't even control of like he had some concussion issues earlier in his career and people wondered about that but other than that you're just kind of like yeah sid i i don't know what he does he goes plays hockey and goes home and i don't know just goes into his cocoon or something like that. Doesn't have social media. Yeah, like he doesn't have social media. He's never, there's never a controversy. There's never any photos about him.

No. Like around town or anything. Like even Connor McDavid, there had been, you know, some gossipy pictures that went around him a couple of years ago that he had to deal with. And Connor McDavid is kind of like Sid. He's pretty boring overall, and you get the sense that he mostly thinks about hockey in his life.

But it is tough to be famous. Let's put it that way. It's tough to be famous. So Summer McIntosh today in the women's 200-meter butterfly final. That's at 11.30. Also, the final of the women's 200 meter butterfly final. That's at 1130. Also, the final of the women's 4x200 meter freestyle relay is at 103. She didn't compete in the semis or heats, but she will or she's expected to be on the team in the final. So they're going to add a ringer.

I always hate that. Add a ringer. But no, it's good this time in the final. You're still upset? I'm still upset. Was there any blowback from your follow-up on the softball story? Not that I've heard of. No, I think I won.

Also, yes, you did. You think you won. That's when he goes to register next year and he sees that he's locked out. All of a sudden, I can't do this. Okay, Ben Steiner is going to join us next on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. We'll go through the Olympics story, what to watch for today in Paris. You're listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. 631 Halford and Brough on a Thursday.

Going to be joined in moments by Ben Steiner to talk about the Canadian women at the Olympics and other stories going on in Paris. Halford & Brough is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. If you want to get some texts in, get some What We Learns in as well.

We're going to have some extra time for it, likely, later in the show. But for now, we go to the phone lines. It is Ben Steiner covering the Olympics for CBC Sports. Appreciate you taking the time, Ben. Canada, they get the win over Colombia yesterday. How impressive has this group stage journey been for the players? Well, morning, boys.

It's certainly an exciting time for this Canadian women's soccer team. I mean, who would have thought that FIFA would dock them six points, everything that happened this week. And as Diana Matheson said on Twitter, and everybody was seemingly saying they'd go and get nine. And that was, you know, an energetic, driven, pissed off, frustrated, passionate. Everything about this week came into how they played against France and then how they played against Colombia and you know it was a joy to watch both games but the thing is I was a little bit you know

calm watching that game I kind of knew that they were going to win and figure it out you weren't nervous at all I was a little nervous when it got into the second half and they hadn't broken through yet because they had that good start and they were, I mean, they had the ball pretty much the entire, what, first 15, 20 minutes and they were just getting after Columbia. But, you know, one of the questions about Canada is whether or not they can score when they have to. And I guess that's why we're thankful for Vanessa Gilles. Yeah, somehow, you know, the center back has become the center forward with this Canadian team and Vanessa Gilles, I mean, you know, outstanding, the emotional leader of this team.

I think everybody saw her interview after the France game where she said, you know, they're damn good players, they're a damn good team, and they're not cheaters. And, you know, that was a bit of a rallying cry to this group. And, you know, now that they've got the penalty behind them in terms of the points deduction, a quarterfinal against Germany coming up, that's a beatable team. With the way this Canadian team is playing and, you know, suddenly we can start thinking about a medal for this Canadian women's soccer team again, which seems so far-fetched earlier this week. Do you think there's still some Canadians that are hesitant to cheer for them?

I don't necessarily think so. I think internationally there's still a lot of judgment on this team having any success because they are cheaters, at least in some way. I don't necessarily buy that the players are cheaters and they certainly didn't cheat in these last two games, but there is still that hanging over them. But I think for Canadians, you see the passion that these players are playing with and just the celebrations that seemingly all Canadian soccer fans and Olympic fans had in the last couple wins. I think, at least domestically, that the issues are probably

behind them for now, at least. You mentioned how they're perceived probably internationally. Do you think that's extra motivation from teams they're going to be facing to maybe try to take care of this Canadian side? I think it kind of levels out, to be honest, because you have the extra motivation of Germany potentially on Saturday wanting to beat the team that attempted to cheat at the Olympic Games. But then you also have Canada, right? This is still a frustrated Canadian team that feels like they've really gotten the short end of the stick from FIFA.

And of course, they appealed the decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and that was dismissed. So they've really got nothing. And they've had to battle for literally everything they've gotten at got nothing. And they've had to battle for literally everything they've gotten at this tournament and they've managed to do it. So I think you're going to see, you know, really passionate, a really fast paced game and one that might actually be more wide open than you would get, you know, in sort of your typical knockout game. Is the concern for Canada still who's going to be scoring goals for them? Josh and I were talking about Jordan Haidama

and how she needs to do a better job of finding the back of the net if Canada is going to properly defend this gold medal. At this point, I don't think it's necessarily a concern. Canada has players that can score goals. And, you know, I'm not saying Vanessa Gilles is going to go in the golden booth.

That looks like it's probably going to be Marie-Antoinette Katoto with the way that she's been playing for France and a couple of more goals yesterday against New Zealand. But, you know, when you look at this Canadian team, there are goal threats throughout. And players that, you know, on their day can score goals. Evelyn Vienne seems good off the bench, but she struggles when she starts. You know, Adriana Leon,

if she can get more involved as she has been in the past, and I think that would probably mean adapting a little bit more centrally in the way that this Canadian team has been setting up under interim head coach Andy Spence, that I think that there are still players

on this team, but with Jordan Haidama leading the line in a three-woman attack, that's not necessarily the way to go ahead with it, but she's also a good target, right? You can play aerially to her and find some success there. So it'll be interesting to see what they roll out because I think Adrienne Leon is probably, you know probably your most reliable goal scorer on this team, but Heidemutt does offer

some certain threats in herself. Ben, tell us about the bronze medal that Canada, the Canadian men, won in the pool. Yeah, for the first time since London 2012. That's a long time ago that the Canadian men have

won a swimming medal in the pool and it was a pretty thrilling race as well. The story of the day really was Leon Marchand of France who won a gold medal in that race and then quickly won another gold medal in a race a few minutes later. He had to double gold medal day in front of the home crowd and that's pretty exciting for Leon

Marchand. But 19-year-old Elia Haroun for Canada, he's the son of two Cirque du Soleil performers. So he certainly has a bit of a fancy for showtime in his blood. And he showed up. The way that he attempted that last 50 meters on that last length was exceptional and finds a medal in the 200-meter men's fly fly he's going to be a name to watch another name to watch uh you know moving forward in the generations of of canadian men swimming is josh liando he missed the final in the 100 meter fly but he's a potential um to win

medals at these games as well and you know it's been so long that we've been talking about the canadian women finding success in the pool that it's nice to see a Canadian man on the podium even if it's at bronze. Is this a sign of things to come for Canadian men in the pool? You mentioned it. The women have had this run of

at least getting medals and now we see Summer McIntosh looks like she's potentially going to be a generational athlete for Canada. What's to come for the men? Are Harun and Leando the future of Canadian men swimming? They pretty are well. They're both very young.

Leando's already had his second Olympics at 21 years old. Finley Knox, another guy to watch, as well as Blake Tierney, they'll actually be swimming locally. They've committed to UBC. And, you know, UBC tends to get a lot of the good swimmers as well. But, you know, Leando and Karun are, you know, two of the most important swimmers on this Canadian men's team. And they'll find success going forward.

I think, you know, as much as the swimming has been great for Canada so far, and we're nearly done it, unfortunately, it's been such a haul for Canadian medals in Paris. I think it's going to be another level in L.A. in four years because, you know, McIntosh is going to be a few years older. She could very well break Penny Alexiak's most decorated Canadian medal record at L.A. 2028. And, you know, there's been all of these concerns about the pool being slow in Paris because it's not deep enough and there's a little bit more turbulence in the water.

And you can be rest assured that they're probably going to make that LA pool at SoFi in front of 30,000, one of the fastest the world has ever seen. It'll be 70 feet deep, I heard. It's going to be very deep, almost to the point of dangerous. Ben, how are these Olympics going for Canada right now? Are they a spectacular success for Canada or is Canada matching expectations? I fail to see that they would be underwhelming considering some of the victories that we've had? There's been a few events where they've fallen short of expectations

and a few events where they've, you know, exceeded expectations to an extreme. You know, the fencing medal comes to mind and the potential fencing medal that Canada might get in team fencing now as well. And that's happening right now. Eleanor Harvey, after winning women's foil individual bronze, has just led Canada to, I have it on mute,

but I believe it's the gold medal game in the women's individual team event, or the women's team event. So, yeah, there could be another medal there, and that's exceeding expectations. But then, you know, there was diving yesterday, and Kaylee mckay and kate miller were very emotional after missing the podium in the 10 meter woman synchronized platform diving um so that's one that they didn't get you know woman soccer wasn't expected to medal in

terms of some of the projections and expectations um but as well you know we've kind of figured it out at this point we'll'll see what happens there. So they're pretty well on track for, I'd say, somewhere in the realm of 21 to 24 medals. And that would be, you know, around Canada's expectation and general average at these most recent Summer Olympics. Tell us a bit about the tennis story, Canada-wise. We mentioned a little bit about Felix Auger-Aliassime. He's on to the men's quarterfinals. He's also on to the mixed doubles semifinal with Gabriela Dabrowski.

Are those the only two tennis players still competing or are there more stories there that's all that's left in canadian tennis and we're getting down to you know the business end of these tennis tournaments at roland garros at the olympic games which is always a bit of a weird tennis tournament i was on your sister's station in toronto last night and you know roger lejoie asked me what to watch at the olympic and I said, you know, golf and tennis are actually two things to watch for Canada at these Olympic Games. Those aren't usually, you know,

the banner events for the Olympic Games, but for Canadians, it's going to be exciting. You've got Nick Taylor and Corey Connors at the men's golf competition, and then, you know, it's another busy day for Felix Ogier-Aliassime. After a busy day yesterday, playing men's singles and mixed doubles, he's doing that again today.

I hope he slept well on the cardboard beds in the Olympic Village because he has a big schedule, and he could potentially walk away with two medals here, which is pretty exciting. He'll be at least fighting for a medal in mixed doubles with Gabriela Dabrowski where he's in the semi-final. The track events kind of get going in the next couple days. What should Canadian fans be keeping an eye on from Canada there? The men's 4x100 meter

is going to be pretty exciting. Canada won the world championship in that. If you haven't seen it, it's an exceptional race. Go look up the 2022 men's four by 100 uh relay at oregon 2022 uh world championships they're probably a metal threat in that the u.s likely has that wrapped up and you know it's the u.s jamaica as one two most likely but canada could be battling for that third spot uh at these games and that would probably be the one medal that andre de gra de Grasse could grab as well. He's not really favored in the 100 or the 200

where he actually qualified at the last minute in terms of hitting the Olympic standard in those events. But we've talked about it before, and I know you've had him on your show as well. It's in the field. Ethan Katzberg and Cameron Rogers in the hammer throw. Two gold medal threats. And that gets started next week as well. And the decathlon starts soon as well?

Decathlon starts tomorrow, I believe, off the top of my head. And Damien Warner, of course, is a defending Olympic champion. He's a medal favorite. He's a gold medal favorite in a lot of respects. The unfortunate thing is Canada could have had you know probably the two best athletes in that event pierce lepage who won the world championship last year had to pull out basically at the last minute he got a medical exemption from the canadian trials did everything he could to get back in time but he had to pull out so the dream of you know the two best athletes in the world and that fell short for for Canada, but Damian Warner, who I think ranks among the greatest Canadian athletes ever considering he won the Olympic decathlon, will have a chance to win another one as he gets started this weekend.

Do we talk enough about Damian Warner? I don't think so. It's a weird event because it's not something you do regularly. There aren't a lot of decathletes who compete in decathlons regularly because it's so grueling on your body. You see, you know, the Canadian Olympic trials, for example, and Damien Warner will run the 110-meter hurdles, but he won't do the decathlon because, you know, it's so grueling on your body.

So a lot of these athletes will compete in you know individual events throughout the year they'll compete in sort of smaller events throughout the year as well that you don't necessarily see a full decathlon especially with you know everyone at that top level outside of the world championships or olympics but considering the athletic ability it takes to win an Olympic or world championship decathlon, you're basically the best male athlete in the world if you do that. And for now, for the last three years, that's been Damian Warner, and he'll try and get that honor again this weekend. We're talking Olympics with Ben Steiner here. I'm going to put you on

the spot, Ben. Who is the most famous track and field athlete in the world right now? Noah Lyles. Noah Lyles. Not a moment of hesitation. It has to be Noah Lyles. If you haven't watched the show Sprint on Netflix, it's kind of a- I've heard that's very good. Drive to survive, but instead of cars, it's 100 meters and 200 meters around the world. Fantastic. Must watch, especially as we meters and 200 meters around the world. Fantastic.

Must watch, especially as we approach the athletics portion of these Olympics. Noah Lyles has as much swagger as any NBA player. He was asked about Canada being a threat in the 4x100 meter. He said, who? Who? It wasn't that he couldn't hear the reporter. It was that he didn't consider Canada a threat and was just being a little bit arrogant. And so he's got that arrogancy. He's got that swagger.

He's probably the most famous, at least male track and field athlete. In terms of women's track and field, it gets a little bit more dicey. I think in Canada, it probably has to be Alicia Newman newman in what she offers in in pole vault uh and she's going to be a metal contender there um but globally i would say probably femke bole uh and what she's able to to offer in her events as well she's a dutch distance runner am i totally out of touch maybe with track and field is noah

lyles a household name in the United States, because I mean, I grew up with, you know, Carl Lewis and Ben Johnson and Linford Christie in Great Britain and, you know, some of the American, Jackie Joyner, Kersey. And then we had the, of course we had the Usain Bolt era that, you know, I know that's a high bar to reach, but I was, you know, I was thinking about the hundred a high bar to reach, but, uh, I was, you know, I was thinking about the a hundred meter and usually it's, it's one of the events that I'm really excited about for the Olympics. And I'm kind of like, wait a minute, I don't really know any of these guys. It is going to be a bit of a weird a hundred meter. I think a lot of the focus this year

is actually going to be on the 200, considering some of the personalities that are going to be on that, on that start line. Uh, and that's where Noah Lyles has really, you know, made his claim. And he said that he's going to go and beat not just the 200 record, but the 100 record as well. And he's talked about Usain Bolt's record. And he has those high standards and high expectations for himself. So that's kind of the expectation for Noel Isles, and he's as close to a household name I think you'd get in at least American sprinting, and often those American sprinters are the most famous in the world. Hey, Ben, really appreciate you taking the time and hope to do this again soon.

Certainly going to be exciting. I can't wait for athletics. There is Ben Steiner covering the Olympics for CBC Sports. I felt like Principal Skinner there. Like, am I so out of touch? No, it's kids. Yeah, it's children's fault. Is Noah Lyles, like, I'm bringing the dogs here and basketball Ben.

Is Noah Lyles like a guy that you're like, yeah, I know who that is? Before Ben even said it on the answer, Ben here was like Lyles. Noah Lyles. So he knew. What about you, Lyles? I was thinking Usain Bolt still, honestly. You think of the big names, right?

I know he's not doing as much now. Is he retired? He's pretty much retired, right? But he's still a huge name. I bet he's still pretty fast. Still pretty fast. He still has a lot of promotion. He's still on commercials and stuff all the time.

Well, Noel Lyles got really, I don't want to say famous for just this, but he was talking about how NBA champions and Super Bowl champions say, the world champion? Like, world champion of what? Like, I'm the world champion. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so that became a meme. And I think he kind of blew up for that a little bit too.

But just because of his attitude and his, you know, swagger as Ben alluded to, that's kind of made him a household name of sorts. I've heard that show on Netflix, Sprint, is very good. I haven't seen it, but I've had a few people ask me about it. And, you know, sometimes I wonder if, like, World Athletics probably had to give the go ahead on that show, right?

And I wonder sometimes if they're like, we need to do a show like this. I mean. Because we need the attention and we've seen what Drive to Survive did for F1, maybe not in Europe, but certainly in North America. It seems like every international league is trying to get on this. Like the PGA had Full Swing and then Tennis had one as well.

I forget what it was called. And all of them have had some level of success. But I don't think anything has captured what Drive to Survive had so far. But, yeah, the only reason I know who Noah Lyles is is also for the same reason Ben does for the world champion thing. Right. But I do think it makes sense for sprinting specifically to try to have a series like they had on Netflix, especially when people like Laddie or like Usain Bolt's the only name I know

and it's yeah yeah um Noah Donovan Bailey is he still what's he doing are they gonna race at the Sky Dome um but Noah Lyles he's also 27 like I feel like yeah he's been around a while I feel like we should have heard by of him by now and I apologize, but I know there's a young Jamaican sprinter. I can't, I don't know his name right now, but he's kind of burst onto the scene recently and he, he might actually be the favorite to win the hundred meter. We got a bunch of texts into the Dunbar Lumber

text line, 650, 650. Usain Bolt is on the same level as Brady Woods Gretzky. He will be doing commercials until the day he dies. Yeah, no, I, I, I realized that. And that's why I said, you know, like I don't expect any current sprinter right now to reach his level of, uh, household name in this, you know, like I don't, I don't expect that, but, um, you know, for, for me going into the Olympics, I

usually knew, even though I'm not a hardcore athletics fan, I knew who the top sprinters were. And, and before this one, I was kind of like, wait a minute, I gotta, I gotta research this one. Like Noah Lyles isn't, he isn't so dominant in the sport. No. Right. I think he's only in the Olympics. He's only won a bronze medal. Right.

So for, and that's probably because he's been racing against Usain Bolt, especially early in his career. But, um, I don't know. It's just one of those things where, um, you know, I don't want to compare it to the, to compare it directly to the heavyweight champion of the world, but everyone always used to know who's the heavyweight champion of the world, but everyone always used to know who's the heavyweight champion of the world when it was Mike Tyson or George Foreman or whoever.

And now if you ask people, especially in North America, who's the, who's the heavyweight champion of the world in boxing right now? They're like, uh, I don't know. Is it some Ukrainian or a Russian or like, you know, like. Jake Paul. Yeah.

Right. Like I think it's Jake Paul. Right. Yeah. He hasn't lost yet. Right. 650, 650 Dunbar lemon text line. Keep the text coming in.

Yeah. A bunch of like names of sprinters in the text box. And just like most of them are retired now. So it's just, it's hard to, I don't know what's happened to sprinting because it's still pretty exciting. And I feel like it wasn't like this, it didn't, it was, was it only popular because of Usain Bolt and like having a generational athlete? No, because I think there was still a lot of interest in it. Um, I mean, from a Canadian perspective, because we would always, we would always seem to have sprinters that were, um, in the mix of winning golds, whether at an individual level or a team level.

But I think going back to, um, I guess it's the eighties. Carl Lewis was a massive star. He was, he was, he was huge and it's before your time, but Ben Johnson was a big star before he got caught. You know, that was a big deal. They had a rivalry. I think Carl Lewis did like the long jump too.

Like, so he was, he was, he was an incredible athlete. And then I mentioned Linford Christie for, for Great Britain. Like these guys were household names. And then, and then we went eventually into the Usain Bolt era. And now I guess we're searching for that next

superstar and a bunch of people have texted into the Dunbar Lumber text line about Noah Lyles it's like that's the first time I've ever heard that name yeah so it hasn't reached that level yet but maybe this will be the Olympics that it will create you know he's got to go win though yeah well and also again he's 27 like even if he wins this one I don't know if there's like this long stretch that he's gonna have and I think that's what made usain bolt so um so much of a household name is because he kept on winning it is halford and brough on the other side adnan burke is going to join us we'll talk baseball movies whatever we want to talk about we will talk about with adnan burke

on the other side it is halford and brough on sportsnet 650.