Canada matched its third-best medal count ever at the Summer Games after Canadian flag-bearer Adam Van Koeverden of Oakville, Ont., claimed a silver medal in the men's K1 500-metre race.
His performance on Saturday brings the medal count to a total of 18 - three gold, nine silver and six bronze.
No Canadians are scheduled to compete on Sunday, when the Beijing Olympics conclude. As a result, Canada finishes the Summer Games with a medal haul that matches what it achieved during the 1992 Barcelona Games. The Canadian Olympic Committee had predicted a medal count of 14 and a top-16 finish.
Two U.S. economics professors had predicted 17 medals and a 16th-place finish for Canada.
"I think we did a great job," said van Koeverden.
Canada won 22 medals during the 1996 Atlanta Games and 44 during the 1984 Los Angeles Games, which were boycotted by Eastern Bloc countries. Those are the only two medal counts that rank higher than the tally achieved in Beijing or Barcelona.
The count could have been higher still.
Canada's synchronized swim team, 800-metre runner Gary Reed and mountain biker Catherine Prendel came close to further adding to the medal count. They all achieved fourth-place finishes on Saturday.
"It was an awesome race," said Prendel of Kamloops, B.C. "I had a bit of trouble shifting on the last climb and Irina was right on my wheel. I had to put a foot down. She got by me and that was bronze."
Reed, also of Kamloops, B.C., who was a silver medallist at the world championships last year, missed the podium by a mere 0.12 seconds. "Fourth is a tough place to finish," said Reed. "I got in a little trouble in the corner. I was stuck inside and could not get out. At the end of the day, I have to be happy with the finish and the 10-year process to get here."
The synchronized swim team finished in fourth place with 95.668 points after moving up a spot in the standings following a two-point penalty against Japan. "This is fantastic, we are so happy with it," said Marie-Pierre Gagne of Montreal.
"Our team has worked so hard preparing for these Games and to get this result here tells us that we're finally there. Being one step up in ranking and beating the Americans proves to us that our country has greatly improved," she said.
The American team tied with Japan for fifth place.
Throughout the Beijing Olympics, Canada has suffered from a number of near misses, posting a total of 12 fourth-place finishes throughout the Games, some by heartbreakingly close margins.
There were also some disappointments. Before winning his silver medal Saturday, van Koeverden placed eighth in the K1 1000 on Friday, a race in which he was favoured as a medal contender.
Canada's performance during the Beijing Games is still a marked improvement from efforts at the 2004 Athens Games, where the medal tally was 12, and the 2000 Sydney Olympics where Canada came home with 14 medals.
Other Canadian Olympic action on Saturday:
- Richard Dober Jr. of Trois-Rivieres, Que. and Andrew Willows of Gananoque, Ont. finished sixth in the K1 500-metre race final, with a time of one minute 30.857 seconds.
- Andrew Russell of Dartmouth, N.S., and Gabriel Beauchesne-Sevigny of Trois-Rivieres, Que., finished fifth in the C1 500-metre competition, clocking in at 1:42.450.
- Riley McCormick of Victoria came in 16th and Reuben Ross of Pilot Butte, Sask. wound up 17th in the men's 10-metre platform diving semifinal, failing to qualify for the final. Only the top 12 divers moved on.
- Geoff Kabush was the top North American in the men's mountain bike race, finishing in 20th place. He and fellow Victoria native Seamus McGrath both battled flat tires. McGrath also tore his front tire off its rim going over a jump, ending up 44th.
- Scott Russell of Windsor, Ont., finished 10th in javelin with a top throw of 80.90 metres.
In other Olympic news:
- Kenya's Kenenisa won the 5,000-metre race, adding to his gold in the 10,000-metre race.
- The World Taekwondo Federation is recommending that Angel Matos of Cuba and his coach be banned for life after Matos kicked referee Chakir Chelbat of Sweden in the face after being disqualified from his bronze medal match.
- As of Friday, with 4,620 tests conducted for performance-enhancing drugs, only six athletes had tested positive.
With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
