Canadian athletes had their best day of the Rio Olympics Thursday capturing four medals.
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Canada’s tied with South Korea for 10th in the overall medal standings with four gold, three silver and 11 bronze.
Canada’s Erica Wiebe celebrates with her coach after winning the gold medal in the women’s freestyle 75kg event on August 18, 2016.
As the games wind down, Canada should see their medal count grow to 20 or over.
Her win also keeps Canada’s streak in women’s wrestling alive, one that dates back to the 2004 Athens Olympics when the discipline made its debut.
Andre De Grasse kept adding to his and Canada’s medal totals on Day 13 of the Rio Olympics.
Wiebe teared up on the podium as she examined the medal around her neck. The others were Daniel Igali of Surrey, British Columbia in 2000 in Sydney, Australia and Carol Huynh of Hazelton, British Columbia in 2008 in Beijing, China.
Canadian diver Meaghan Benfeito capped off her Rio run in style after winning her second bronze and first individual medal.
Wiebe battled her way to the finals after overpowering Vasilisa Marzaliuk of Belarus 3-0 on Thursday afternoon.
Wiebe trailed Zhang 2-0 after the first round, but fought back to grab a 3-2 edge in the second before sealing it late. “I don’t know if it was slippery. she went to elevate her training partner and kind of slipped back and got caught in a really amusing position – nearly like a splits”.
A gold medallist at both the Commonwealth Games and the World University Championships in 2014, Wiebe started the day by beating Selmaier 3-0 in the round of 16.
In other action involving Canadians, Saskatoon’s Jillian Gallays lost her qualification match to North Korea’s Myong Suk Jong in the 53-kg category, while Danielle Lappage of Olds, Alta., withdrew because of injury early in her showdown with Ukraine’s Yulia Tkach at the same stage of the 63-kilogram division.
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Playing a key role in getting Wiebe to the University of Calgary was Canadian women’s wrestling pioneer Christine Nordhagen, who was a Dinos assistant at the time and is now with the national program.
