Candace Ward/COC
There’s more than just medals at stake at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago. For many athletes and teams, it’s their chance to either qualify directly for the 2024 Paris Olympics or earn spots on Team Canada, which they hope to add their names to next summer.
How Team Canada can qualify for Paris 2024 at the 2023 Pan Am Games Santiago
Below is a summary of the Olympic qualifications Team Canada secured for Paris while in Santiago.
boxing
Boxing is one of the sports in which athletes have Olympic qualifications in name. A semi-final win in Santiago not only guarantees a chance at gold, but gives these boxers a sweet golden ticket to the Paris 2024 Games.
Tamara Thibault – women’s 75 kg
Tamara Thibault, the 2022 world champion, earned a return trip to the Olympics with a huge win over Mexico’s Vanessa Ortiz in the semifinals. Thibault was clearly the victor in the eyes of the judges, winning over all five judges during the three rounds. Thibault had already passed her round of 16 match, which she won when the referee stopped the bout at just 2:51. She followed that up with an official 5-0 win in the quarter-finals.
“I’m really happy to be here, and I’m really happy that I was finally able to book my ticket to Paris,” Thibault said. “It’s been a long year and we’ve worked hard for this, so a lot of pressure is off tomorrow [in the final] “I can just have fun.”
Thibault reached the quarterfinals in her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020. This came after winning a silver medal at the Pan Am Games in Lima 2019.
Wyatt Sanford – 63.5 kg for men
Wyatt Sanford also earned his second consecutive Olympic appearance. He defeated Brazilian Youri Falcao dos Reis 5-0 in the 63.5kg semi-final. Although four of the five judges awarded the first round to Falcao dos Reis, they all agreed that Sanford was the stronger boxer in the second and third rounds, awarding him the victory on points. Sanford also recorded 5-0 victories in the round of 16 and quarterfinals.
“I’m going home to Kennethcock (Nova Scotia). I’m going to get that ticket, I’m going to get that medal, and I’m going to go to the little local coffee shop. It’s me in the ring, but it’s for the whole community. If it wasn’t for my hometown, I wouldn’t be where I am and fighting,” Sanford said. Always with them by my side.”
Riding
Team taming
Four young riders from Quebec accomplished the task they set themselves and qualified Canada for the team dressage competition in Paris 2024. This will be the second consecutive Olympic Games at which Canada will have a full dressage team, the lineup of which will be determined next year.
The Canadian quartet of Beatrice Boucher (riding Summerwood Lemmy), Camille Carrier-Bergeron (riding Sound of Silence 4), Mathilde Bliss Tetreaux (riding Fedor), and Naima Moreira Laliberte (riding Statesman) won the bronze medal, which was enough to secure the bronze medal. Olympic spot. Team USA won the gold medal, but since they had already qualified for their Olympic berth at the 2022 FEI World Championships, that meant the two spots reserved for the Pan American region went to the other two teams on the podium, silver medalists Brazil and Canada.
Only Moreira-Laliberte has represented Canada in a multi-sport Games before, making her a veteran of the team at the age of 26. Four years ago at Lima 2019, she was part of Canada’s gold medal in team dressage, which qualified for the Lima 2019. State Championships for Tokyo 2020.
The dressage competition began in Santiago on Sunday, after which the Canadians found themselves in third place after four strong tests. They maintained this position during the second day of competition, finishing with a total of 431,937 points. The Americans took the win with 450.670 and Brazil followed with 443.343.
“We qualified Canada for the Olympics!” said Blaise Tetreault. “We did our job. We are very happy with all of our rides. Our horses were amazing. Everyone showed up to work.”
shooting
All shooting quota places are earned for the country and will be allocated to individual athletes next year based on results and other competition criteria.
Women’s 50m rifle 3 positions
Canada’s first Olympic quota in shooting for the 2024 Paris Olympics came courtesy of Shannon Westlake’s bronze medal in the women’s 50-meter rifle 3-position event. A pair of Americans won gold and silver, but the United States had already secured the maximum of two quota places it could have in the event.
Westlake was competing in her third consecutive Pan Am Games, but this was her first time on the podium. The last time Canada qualified for the Olympics in any women’s rifle event was in Sydney 2000.
“All the work I’ve done and all the people who have supported me…it was so beautiful to be together today,” Westlake said through happy tears. ”
Men’s 10m air pistol
Tughrul Ozer set a Pan Am Games record to win gold in the men’s 10m air pistol competition. Ozer’s total score reached 240.5 points, giving him a narrow victory over American James Hall, who scored 239.3 points. The win gives Canada the only Olympic berth that was up for grabs at the event in Santiago 2023.
The last time Canada qualified for the Olympics in the men’s 10m air pistol was with Barcelona in 1992.
Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games Centre
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