Tuesday, July 31, 2012 2:32 PM ET
Triple Medal Tuesday for Canada
LONDON - It has been a multi-medal day for Canada at the London Olympics.Antoine Valois-Fortier won a bronze in men's judo less than 30 minutes after the diving team of Roseline Filion and Meaghan Benfeito captured a bronze in the 10-metre synchronized event.
About an hour later, weightlifter Christine Girard captured bronze in the women's 63-kilogram class.
Canada now has four total medals, all bronze.
Valois-Fortier, a 22-year-old from Quebec City, defeated American Travis Stevens 1-0 in the bronze medal bout of the men's 81-kilogram judo event.
"It feels amazing. I've sacrificed so much and all of the fights today were very hard," Valois-Fortier said. "It was tough mentally but the whole team supported me and I managed to pull myself together. I wanted it really bad, it's what I work for every day."
Filion, from Laval, Que., and Benfeito, from Montreal, finished with a combined score of 337.62 for their diving bronze.
"We had to dive our hearts out. We were ready," Filion said. "We said there was nothing more we could have done."
China continued to dominate the competition, with Chen Ruolin and Wang Hao winning the gold.
"They can make mistakes," added Benfeito. "We try to say we can win the gold. But they're amazing divers."
Paola Espinosa Sanchez and Alejandra Orozco Loza of Mexico took the silver.
Girard, who grew up in Rouyn-Noranda, Que., and lives in White Rock, B.C., completed the hat trick an hour later to become the first Canadian woman to ever win a weightlifting medal at a Games.
She finished third with a total weight of 236 kilograms.
"It is very hard to describe how I feel," Girard said. "Four years ago in Beijing I came fourth and since then I have spent the past four years training through injuries and various changes in my life to get to this moment."
Maiya Maneza of Kazakhstan won gold, while Svetlana Tsarukaeva of Russia captured silver.
The medals come two days after Emilie Heymans and Jennifer Abel gave Canada its first of the Games with a third-place finish in the women's three-metre synchro.
On the soccer pitch, Canada's women's team booked a berth in the quarter-finals thanks to a 2-2 tie with Sweden.
Melissa Tancredi scored her third and fourth goals of the tournament as the seventh-ranked Canadians finished the preliminary round with a 1-1-1- record.
Meanwhile, both remaining Canadian singles players bowed out at Wimbledon.
Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., dropped a marathon 6-3, 3-6, 25-23 match to France's Jo-Wilfried Songa.
It was a similar fate for Quebec tennis player Aleksandra Wozniak. The Blainville native was eliminated from women's play after falling 6-1, 6-3 to Venus Williams.
"We had some really fast, powerful exchanges but she was on top of her game," Wozniak said. "I think grass really suits her."
In men's doubles, Toronto's Daniel Nestor and Vancouver's Vasek Pospisil were scheduled to play the third-seeded Serbian duo of Janko Tipsarevic and Nenad Zimonjic later in the day.
On the water, three sets of Canadian rowers were in action Tuesday morning, but only one made the semifinal round.
Victoria's Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee rebounded from a poor heat to finish second in their lightweight women's double sculls repechage and advance to Thursday's semis.
Jennerich and Obee (seven minutes 15.37 seconds) were second to the U.S. (7:13.82) in their repechage. Cuba also moved on with a third-place finish.
"Obviously we wanted to go out and win the rep, but what we have to take home with us is recognizing that as we are moving through the regatta we are improving immensely," said Jennerich. "We just have to take that and gain confidence in that so that we can put it to use in the semi, which is going to be an extremely tough race.
"There's probably eight crews in this event that can be on that podium and probably six that can win it. It's not like there is an obvious top three — we'll have to race that semi like it's a final."
The two men's crews competing Tuesday will have to watch from the sidelines.
Douglas Vandor of Dewittville, Que., and Morgan Jarvis of Clearwater Bay, Ont., faded after a fast start in the lightweight men's double sculls. They finished fourth, with Greece and Hungary placing one-two to advance to the semifinals.
Michael Braithwaite of Duncan, B.C., and Kevin Kowalyk of Winnipeg finished sixth in their men's doubles scull semifinal and failed to advance to the final.
In the pool, Canadians Brent Hayden of Mission, B.C., qualified for the semifinals of the men's 100-metre freestyle with the fifth-fastest time in heats.
The top 16 advanced to the evening semifinals. The top eight from there swim in Wednesday's final.
Scott Dickens of Burlington, Ont., made it into the 200-metre breastroke semifinals by finishing 13th. Audrey Lacroix of Pont-Rouge, Que., was 15th in the women's 200-metre butterfly to advance.
Katerine Savard of Cap-Rouge, Que., was 19th in women's butterfly and did not advance.
And in women's gymnastics, Canada finished fifth as the U.S. captured its first gold in the event since 1996.
