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Canadians breaking records at Rio Olympics

Ah, the Olympics. It seems like only yesterday our teams competed in Sochi, Russia for the Winter Games, and in London, England for the 2012 Summer Games, earning 25 medals in Sochi, and 18 in London.

Ah, the Olympics.

It seems like only yesterday our teams competed in Sochi, Russia for the Winter Games, and in London, England for the 2012 Summer Games, earning 25 medals in Sochi, and 18 in London.

Considering the level of competition our country is up against at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil, it is a thrill to see Canadians accepting medals, whether they are bronze or silver.

While not gold, these are still worthy of note.

It takes a certain athletic ability to rise to distinction.

This week the Canadian women’s rugby team earned a bronze after defeating France 15-5 in the quarterfinals, and Great Britain 33-10 in the bronze medal match.

The bout was closely contested and required a certain amount of finesse to pull off.

Even better, our women’s swim team is breaking records — personal and team-held — and has earned silver and bronze medals as of press time.

Penny Oleksiak won a silver medal in the Women’s 100m Butterfly, and a bronze in the 4x100m Freestyle Relay, along with teammates Kylie Masse, Sandrine Mainville, Chantal Van Landeghem, Taylor Ruck and Michelle Williams.

Oleksiak also won a gold, and she is only 16-years-old.

More locally, Stephanie Labbe, Canada’s women’s soccer team goalkeeper, originally from Stony Plain, is poised to help her currently undefeated teammates take on Germany.

They are currently ranked first in their pool, ahead of Germany, Australia and Zimbabwe.

With all of the excitement, it is easy to forget about the Paraolympics and Winter Games.

As many of our readers know, Barrhead native Melissa Lotholz is a member of our Canadian bobsled team, and Heidi Peters is a member of Canada’s sitting volleyball team.

Regardless of how things turn out this year for Canada at the Olympics, it is pretty exciting to be Canadian, to be an Albertan and to know such homegrown talent as Labbe, Peters and Lotholz grew up among us.

Three cheers for Canada, our athletes deserve it.

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