By the Numbers: Team Canada heading into the Paris 2024 Olympic Games 

Team Canada will send 338 athletes to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, a group that includes 316 accredited athletes and 22 accredited alternates. 

Among the accredited athletes on the Canadian Olympic Team there are 193 who identify as female or will compete in women’s events, and 123 who identify as male or will compete in men’s events. This marks the fourth straight Olympic Summer Games where Team Canada athletes competing in women’s events outnumber those competing in men’s events. 

Read on for some more fun facts about Team Canada at Paris 2024. 

Olympic Experience

Of the 316 accredited athletes, 142 have previously competed at an Olympic Games, and 17 have competed at a Summer Youth Olympic Games. The team includes 174 first-time Olympic Team Members!

Of the 142 returning Olympic Team Members, 38 have an Olympic medal to their name already. That includes Team Canada’s all-time most decorated Olympian, swimmer Penny Oleksiak, with her seven medals and Team Canada’s all-time most decorated male summer Olympian, sprinter Andre De Grasse, with his six medals. Both will be competing in their third Olympic Games.  

The athlete with the most Olympic appearances to their name is table tennis player Mo Zhang. Paris 2024 will mark her fifth straight Olympic Games.

Equestrian Mario Deslauriers is the returning athlete who made his Olympic debut the longest time ago, having first competed at Los Angeles 1984 and then subsequently at Seoul 1988 and Tokyo 2020. Fellow equestrian Michael Winter has the current longest gap between Olympic Games, having last competed at Beijing 2008.

There are 125 athletes on Team Canada who competed at the Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games, including 116 medallists.

Youngest and Oldest Athletes

The oldest athletes of each gender on the team are a pair of equestrians, dressage rider Jill Irving (61) and show jumper Mario Deslauriers (59). Irving, who is making her Olympic debut, is Canada’s oldest Olympic team member since another equestrian, Ian Millar, competed in his 10th Olympic Games at London 2012 at the age of 65. 

The youngest athletes of each gender are skateboarder Fay De Fazio Ebert (14) and fencer Nicholas Zhang (18). They are among the 21 teenagers on the team.

Olympic Siblings and Children of Olympians

Sometimes being an Olympic athlete runs in families.

Team Canada at Paris 2024 will include five sets of siblings. 

The Deguchi sisters will both make their Olympic debuts in judo, Christa in the 57kg event in which she is the world number one and a two-time world champion, while Kelly competes in 52kg. 

Canada’s men’s and women’s basketball teams will each include an Ejim, with Melvin and Yvonne both competing in their first Olympic Games. 

In mountain bike, it will be the Holmgren siblings representing Team Canada, Gunnar in the men’s cross-country race and Isabella in the women’s event. 

And then there are two sets of sisters who will compete alongside each other. Antonia and Georgia Lewin-LaFrance are the crew of Canada’s 49er FX in sailing. Katherine and Michelle Plouffe are teammates in 3×3 basketball. 

There are also 10 athletes and one alternate athlete who are children of Olympians. 

RJ Barrett will take to the court with the men’s basketball team 24 years after his father Rowan did the same at Sydney 2000. 

His teammate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander follows in the footsteps of his mother Charmaine, who represented Antigua and Barbuda in athletics at Barcelona 1992. 

Syla Swords, Canada’s youngest ever Olympic basketball player, was preceded by her father Shawn, who was also on the Sydney 2000 men’s basketball team. 

The fathers of volleyball teammates Nick Hoag and Xander Ketrzynski – Glenn and Alex – were also Olympic teammates in volleyball at Los Angeles 1984. 

Equestrian Amy Millar is headed to her second Olympic Games, following the 10 Olympic appearances by father Ian from Munich 1972 to London 2012. 

Daniel Gu joins mother Jujie Luan as an Olympic fencer. She competed for China at Los Angeles 1984 – where she won a gold medal – and Seoul 1988 before representing Canada at Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008. 

Swimming star Summer McIntosh is a two-time world champion in the event in which her mother Jill Horstead competed at Los Angeles 1984, the women’s 200m butterfly. 

Rower Avalon Wasteneys, who was part of the gold medal-winning women’s eight at Tokyo 2020, was preceded as an Olympian by mother Heather Clarke at Seoul 1988.  

Axelle Crevier will compete in her second Olympic water polo tournament after her mother Marie-Claude Deslières competed in the Olympic debut of women’s water polo at Sydney 2000. 

Finally, artistic swimming alternate Sydney Carroll will be in Paris alongside her mother, Mary, who competed in diving at Barcelona 1992 and is now a coach. 

Where Team Canada Comes From

Team Canada’s accredited athletes headed to Paris 2024 hail from nine different provinces:

• Ontario (141)
• Quebec (58)
• British Columbia (45)
• Alberta (34)
• Nova Scotia (10)
• Saskatchewan (9)
• Manitoba (6)
• New Brunswick (3)
• Prince Edward Island (2)

There are eight athletes on Team Canada with hometowns outside of the country.

History in the Making

Canada will compete in 3×3 basketball, BMX freestyle, and surfing for the first time at an Olympic Games. All three sports made their Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020. Paris 2024 will also see Canada’s first breaking Olympian, as the sport makes its Olympic debut.

Paris 2024 marks the first time since Sydney 2000 that Canada has both men’s and women’s basketball teams competing at the Games.

Team Canada has full teams in men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics for the first time since Athens 2004.

The team includes full teams in all three equestrian events for the first time since London 2012.

What’s in a Name?

From Aaliyah (Edwards) to Zoe (Sherar). From (Mariam) Abdul-Rashid to (Nathan) Zsombor-Murray. Team Canada has the alphabet covered.

There are a few first names that show up frequently. The team includes four athletes named Jessica (Gaudreault, Guo, Phoenix, Sevick), four named Michelle (Harrison, Li, Plouffe, Russell), and four named Sarah (Douglas, Mitton, Orban, Van Dam). On the men’s side, there are four athletes named Nick (Hoag, Matveev, Taylor, Wammes) plus one with the long form Nicholas (Zhang).