Injury ends De Grasse's Olympic gold medal defence: "The pain was too much"
Canadian Olympic sprinter Andre De Grasse has failed to defend his gold medal from the Tokyo 2020 Games.
The 29-year-old has been eliminated in the semifinals of the 200m at the Paris Olympics, the same event in which he sat atop the podium a few years back.
De Grasse explained to CBC reporter Devin Heroux post-race that a nagging hamstring has been giving him issues in Paris and made it difficult to run his fastest.
“The pain was too much,” explained the sprinter.
He finished second in his opening heat, behind only 100m champion Noah Lyles, which automatically qualified him for today’s semifinals. However, a slow start in the semifinals resulted in a third-place finish in his group and his time was not enough to advance.
De Grasse finished 0.1 seconds off the minimum qualifying time.
Athlétisme 🏃 : Andre De Grasse 🇨🇦 termine 3e de sa vague avec un chrono de 20.41. Il sera dans la salle d'attente pour la finale du 200 m.#jeuxolympiques #RCSports #Paris2024 #athlétisme pic.twitter.com/lB8fC1zJoD
— Radio-Canada Sports (@RC_Sports) August 7, 2024
Two other Canadians, Brendon Rodney and Aaron Brown, competed in the 200m dash semifinals. Neither managed to qualify for the final and both ran slower than De Grasse.
The Canadian Olympic star De Grasse was also eliminated in the men’s 100m final earlier in these Olympics after running a 9.98 in the semifinals. It was the first time he failed to qualify for the 100m final at any Olympic Games he’s participated in.
It’s been an eventful Games for De Grasse as his personal coach, Rana Reider, was sent home from Paris amid allegations of abuse.
The Paris Games aren’t over for De Grasse, who is a key member of Canada’s 4 x 100m relay team. He explained today that he hopes the running start of the relay will help reduce the load on his ailing hamstring, as well as that the straight track of the 100m will be easier than the bends involved in the 200m.
The 4 x 100m Olympic event starts tomorrow at 5:44 am ET/2:44 am PT. De Grasse will be looking to help the team reach the final, which will run at 1:47 pm ET/10:47 am PT.
Canada won a silver medal in the relay event at the Tokyo 2020 Games and a bronze at the Rio 2016 Games. De Grasse was a member of both teams.