Canadian Andre De Grasse Wins Gold In the Olympic 200-M

Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse has won gold in the men’s 200-metre race at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

By Donovan Martin

On August 4, 2021, in the men’s 200-metre race, Canadian Andre De Grasse narrowly outran his competition, winning his first gold medal. This makes Canada’s first gold in the 200-m race in 93 years. In both third and second, America had runners. Noah Lyles ran with a time of 19.74 seconds while Kenny Bednarek had a time of 19.68. Yet winning by a mere 0.06 seconds, Andre de Grasse won with a time of 19.62 seconds.

This comes after De Grasse won a bronze medal in the men’s 100-metre race on August 1, 2021. In second place was Kenny Bednarek, and first, Italy’s Lamont Marcell Jacobs. Jacobs’ time was only 0.09 seconds less than de Grasse’s. He will continue to perform in the Olympics, joining teammates Bolade Ajomale, Bismark Boateng, Gavin Smellie, and Jerome Blake in the 4×100-metre relay.

“I’m just so happy. I’m so proud of myself. I finally got it done,” De Grasse said to the press after his race. “I’ve been working hard for this moment for the past five years. I waited an extra year with the pandemic. I’ve just been training my butt off, and I’m just so happy that I finally did it.” Yet his excitement wasn’t shared by him alone. The sprinter’s mother was ecstatic over the news of her son’s success, saying, “I’m super, super proud and super, super excite!”

The now two-time Olympian is not new to praise, with him winning two bronze medals and one silver in Rio, along with a multitude of meals in the Commonwealth Games, Pan American Games, and World Athletics Championships since 2013. But with an Olympic gold medal now belonging to him, De Grasse’s career will certainly go far.

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