Four athletes will represent the Niagara Region at the 2024 Paris Olympics, which holds its opening ceremonies today. Opening ceremonies for the games will begin at 1:30pm (7:30pm Paris time), before thousands of athletes from across the world will compete for hundreds of medals.
Team Canada will boast 315 athletes, 122 men and 193 women, at the Paris games across 31 sports.
Here’s a look at the athletes with Niagara ties, who are looking to take home medals in Paris.
Kristen Kit – Rowing
St. Catharines’ Kristen Kit is entering her second Olympics, looking to add to the gold medal she earned at the Tokyo games in 2021. Kit serves as the coxswain of the women’s eight on the water, earning Canadian women their first rowing Olympic gold medal since Barcelona 1992.
Kit began rowing in 2002, with her grandfather as her teacher. She slept in her car for three weeks the first summer she tried out for the Canadian U23 team, because she didn’t want to miss the opportunity. Kit encountered some adversity in 2019 when she broke her collarbone less than a week after returning home from the last World Cup stop of the season, where the eight had won bronze. Her injury required surgery but just four days after going under the knife, she was back out on the lake, preparing for the world championships which would double as the Olympic qualifier.
Mohammed Ahmed – Athletics
Another medalist from the Tokyo games, St. Catharines resident Mohammed Ahmed is looking to make another impact for Canada at the Paris games.
In 2021, Ahmed won a silver in the men’s 5000m, the best ever finish by a Canadian at the Olympics – breaking his own record of a sixth place finish at the Rio 2016 games. This is his fourth Olympics, having competed in 2012 (London), 2016 (Rio), 2021 (Tokyo) for Canada before. Ahmed started running track at 13 years old, after seeing his brothers running at school. He says he wanted to compete for Team Canada after watching the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Born in Somalia, he spent the first 10 years of his life in Kenya before moving to Canada with his family in 2001. Since the 2021 games, he has finished Top 10 in the World Championships in both the 5000 and 10,000m distances in 2022 and 2023.
Sabrina D’Angelo – Women’s Football (Soccer)
Welland’s Sabrina D’Angelo is making her second appearance for Team Canada at the Olympics, after appearing as a keeper for the women’s football club in the Rio 2016 Olympics.
D’Angelo made her debut in the Canadian youth program as a 14-year-old in 2007, before going on to set several records while playing for the University of South Carolina, including career minutes in goal (7535) and career matches started by a goalkeeper (81) as well as the senior record for shutouts (10 in 2014).
In 2016 with Team Canada, she won a bronze medal, and is looking to continue that success after the women’s squad won gold at the Tokyo games in 2021. Most recently, she’s made appearances for Arsenal’s women’s side in the UK, and has played professionally in the United States and Sweden.
Hannah Taylor – Wrestling
Making her Olympic debut in Paris is Hannah Taylor. While not from or a resident of Niagara, the PEI born Taylor has been a staple of Brock University’s wrestling program – graduating in 2021.
Hannah started wrestling at age 11, and would often wear medals that her uncle had won as a competitive wrestler. Taylor has represented Canada twice at the Pan American Games, winning a silver medal at Santiago 2023. In 2022, she won 57kg bronze at the Commonwealth Games. Taylor is a two-time bronze medalist at the UWW U23 World Championships in 2019 and 2021.
She’s also a back to back USPORTS National Champion with Brock University, winning in 2018 and 2019.
Below is a schedule of events for all four athletes.
Kristen Kit – Rowing (Women’s Eights)
Previous medals: Gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
July 29th, 6:00am: Heats
August 1st, 4:10am: Repechage
August 3rd, 4:50am: Finals
Sabrina D’Angelo – Football (soccer)
Previous medals: Bronze at the Rio Olympics in 2016, Canada won gold at Tokyo 2021 but she wasn’t on the team.
July 28th, 3:00pm vs France
July 31st, 3:00pm vs Columbia
August 3rd to 10th: Knockout rounds
Mohammed Ahmed – Athletics
Previous medals: Silver at the Tokyo Olympics in 5000m in 2021.
August 2nd, 5:20am: 10,000m
August 10th, 4:00am: 5000m
Hannah Taylor – Freestyle Wrestling (57kg)
August 8th, 5:30am (approximately)
August 9th, 5:00am – 6:00am (approximately)
The schedule hasn’t been released yet for when each wrestler will wrestle, but those are the Women’s 57kg times.
(Written by: Matt Latour)
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