Canada women have won the Gold medal in football at the Tokyo Olympics, after beating Sweden on penalties in the finals of the competition.
Julia Grosso scored the winning kick for the team to seal their victory on the night. Stina Blackstenius gave Sweden the lead before a penalty for Canada leveled things up, and the scoreline read 1-1 at 90 minutes. This marks the first gold medal for Canada in the Olympics, after winning bronze at London and Rio.
Canada midfielder Quinn is the first openly transgender athlete to win an Olympic medal. Canada and Quinn won bronze in Rio 2016 before Quinn came out in September 2020.
The loss in the finals makes this the second time that Sweden have had to settle for a silver medal in the Olympics, having lost to Germany in Rio, 2016. This time, they were defeated on penalties 3-2 thanks to brilliant performances from both sets of goalkeepers to give spectators a thrilling match despite the low number of goals scored.
“It feels amazing. Wow. Super, super proud of my team,” defender Kadeisha Buchanan said. “It’s a feeling I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
Of the 30 shots that Sweden had throughout the match, only 6 of them were on target while 4 of Canada’s 13 were headed for goal. Possession was shared almost equally between the two teams, but the Canucks ultimately got the better of their opponents to cap off a brilliant victory against strong opposition.
