It won’t be long until we’re all familiar with Miraitowa, the blue-and-white mascot with the ability to teleport. Amazing, right?
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are fast approaching and Miraitowa will be one of its stars. Among the other standouts are a bunch of Canadian stars we’ll be meeting and getting reacquainted with. The Canadian Olympic Committee has stated its goal is to be among the top eight nations at the next Summer Games when it comes to total medal count. That would be a slight improvement on 2016 in Rio, which saw Canada place ninth, with 22 medals in all (four gold, three silver and 15 bronze).
We at Sportsnet are betting on Canada to hit that goal of a top-eight finish — there are a lot of medal hopefuls on the 2020 roster, after all.
And our predictions don’t stop there. With the clock ticking toward Tokyo 2020, here are six more predictions with a largely Canadian focus.
1. Brooke Henderson will win an Olympic medal in golf
The clutch and consistent 22-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., is going to win some of the only hardware that’s missing from her already very full trophy case.
Henderson is the World No. 8 and she won twice this season — titles No. 8 and 9 — becoming the winningest Canadian golfer ever in the process, and with years still to go in her career. She heads to Tokyo with the added motivation of having come oh-so-close four years ago. At age 18, she finished T7 in Rio.
Expect Canada’s greatest golfer ever to be standing on that podium in Tokyo. That would mark Canada’s second-ever medal in the sport. George Lyon won gold for Canada back in 1904. (Golf has only been contested at the Olympics three times in history; Tokyo will mark the fourth.)
2. Russians will win more medals than Canadians
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has banned Russia from international competition for the next four years — a judgment the country is appealing. As it stands, Russians who can prove they’re clean are eligible to compete in Tokyo, as they were at the last Winter Games. In Sochi, they were called “Olympic Athletes of Russia,” but in Tokyo, the banner they’ll compete under won’t include “Russia” at all.
Russians have already qualified in numerous events, including gymnastics, sailing, shooting and swimming. And, whatever they’re called, athletes from Russia are going to pile up hardware, as they usually do.
The country won 56 medals at the Rio Olympics, behind only the U.S., Great Britain and China. Expect that number to drop in Tokyo if WADA’s ban stands but still, Russians will take home more hardware than Canadians — even if they’re not competing under the Russian flag.
3. Kylie Masse will become a household name and an Olympic champion
Masse will win gold in the 100-metre backstroke. The 23-year-old from LaSalle, Ont., has been insanely consistent since the 2016 Olympics, where she won bronze in the same event. Masse hasn’t lost a 100-m. backstroke race since that third-place finish, and she’s the two-time defending world champion.
Calling her to win the distance may not exactly seem like going out on a limb, considering all she does is win. But hold on a second: Have you seen a 100-m. backstroke race? It comes down to milliseconds. And the world record is currently held by an American.
We’re calling Masse to come up big in Tokyo because she’s made for big moments. That gold will be part of a handful of medals Masse takes home from Tokyo, including one in the 200-metre backstroke and another in a team relay.
4. Andre De Grasse will be an Olympic champion at 200 metres…
The 25-year-old sprinting sensation from Scarborough, Ont., rebounded in 2019 after a couple of tough years. De Grasse won 200-metre silver at the 2019 IAAF World Championships. He also beat the reigning world champ at the distance earlier this past season.
If he can enter Tokyo healthy, expect De Grasse to be atop that podium in sprinting’s second-most painful distance. (The 400-m. is the most painful.)
5. …but the Canadian won’t be the champion at the marquee 100-m. distance
De Grasse won bronze at 100 metres at the 2019 worlds and at the last Olympics. He’ll once again get on the podium, but even though he was coming off injury this past year and he’ll be presumably healthy in 2020, De Grasse won’t be standing at the top. That distinction will belong to American, Christian Coleman. The 25-year-old Coleman ran in Rio, but didn’t make it past the heats. Tokyo will be his moment.
6. Melissa Bishop will win some long-awaited Olympic hardware
Thirteen one-hundredths of a second stood between the now 31-year-old Bishop and an Olympic medal at the last summer Games in Rio. She only recently got over the heartbreak.
And in the time since, the 800-metre runner from Eganville, Ont., has given birth to her first child, Corinne, who’s now a year-and-half, and Bishop’s eyes are firmly set on reaching her goal in Tokyo.
This past season, Bishop fell less than a second short of cracking the “A” standard required to compete at world championships, and she shut her season down early due to injury. But this winter has been the best training she’s had in years, and the runner is feeling back to her pre-pregnancy self. So, look out.
The 2015 world silver medallist will win that elusive Olympic medal in Japan, the lone hardware missing from her mantle. And it’ll be oh-so-sweet for the greatest 800-m. runner this country has ever seen. She’ll even get to celebrate with Corinne.