For 19 days, the best in the world descended on Paris for the 2024 Olympic Games.
In total, Canada brought home 27 medals this year. Nine gold, seven silver, and 11 bronze, across a range of sports from fencing to judo, marking the country’s most successful year in a non-boycotted Summer event.
Locally, two athletes from the Hamilton and Niagara Region shone with a medal finish: Kristen Kit, the coxswain from St. Catharines for the women’s eight rowing team, and Eleanor Harvey, a fencer from Hamilton.
Kit and the rest of the women’s eight rowing team secured a silver for her last Olympic game. She’ll be retiring from the sport this year.
Harvey managed to claw-back a win over Italy’s Alice Volpi, the fourth-ranked foil fencer in the world, to clinch a bronze medal win in the women’s individual — a first for Canada.
Following Sunday’s closing ceremony, they’ll both start making their way home where they’re sure to receive a heroes welcome.