Smith students and alumni bring home medals for Team Canada from Paris 2024

Kingston, Ont. – A Smith School of Business Commerce student, and four students and one alum from the school’s Certificate in Business (CIB) program are returning from the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games with medals for Canada.

Melissa Humana-Paredes and teammate Brandie Wilkerson made history by winning silver in women’s beach volleyball. The pair are the first Canadian women to win an Olympic medal in the sport after losing a close-fought, three-set final match to Brazil.

Swimmer Kylie Masse became one of Canada’s most decorated Olympians by winning bronze in the 200-metre backstroke. That makes her a five-time medallist, having won two silvers and a bronze at Tokyo 2020 and bronze at Rio 2016. Only a handful of Canadian athletes have won five or more career Olympic medals (the record of seven is shared by Masse’s swim teammate Penny Oleksiak and sprinter Andre De Grasse).

Chloe Daniels, Comm’25, and Caroline Crossley won silver as members of Canada’s women’s rugby sevens. The team defeated host nation France in the quarter-final (Daniels scored the winning try with under a minute to go), then came from behind against Australia in the semi-final, before losing to New Zealand in the gold medal game.

Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski and Sydney Payne were part of the women’s eight rowing team that won silver in the 2,000-metre final. The crew held off Great Britain in the last 500 metres to take silver, just behind gold medallist Romania.

Humana-Paredes, Crossley, Gruchalla-Wesierski, Payne and Masse were among 19 Game Plan Award recipients from the CIB program who competed in Paris. The other athletes who made Canada proud are: 

• Evan Dunfee, who finished fifth in the men’s 20-km walk and 20^th in the marathon race walk mixed relay.
  
  
• Sabrina D’Angelo, Cloé Lacasse, Quinn, Adriana Leon and Nichelle Prince were on the women’s soccer team that made it to the quarter-final game.
   
• Jessica Gaudreault, Shae La Roche, Hayley McKelvey and Emma Wright, on the women’s water polo team, which finished in eighth place.
  
  
• Stephen Maar, on the men’s indoor volleyball team, which finished in the preliminary round.
  
  
• Sarah Mitton competed in the women’s shot put finals, finishing in 12^th place.
  
  
• Benjamin Flanagan finished 17^th in round one of the men’s 5,000-metre race.
  
  
• Hannah Taylor, who competed in the bronze medal match in women’s 57-kg freestyle wrestling.
  

Since 2016, Smith School of Business has been the Official National Business Education Partner of the Canadian Olympic Team, as well as a Founding Partner of Game Plan, Canada’s total athlete wellness program, helping athletes plan for success beyond sport. In partnership with Game Plan, Smith provides financial awards to current and former Canadian National Team, Olympic and Paralympic athletes across its Certificate in Business and professional graduate programs.

Continue to cheer on Game Plan athletes during the Paralympic Games, up next Aug. 28 to Sept. 8. So far, Graduate Diploma in Business alum Anne Fergusson and CIB student Allison Lang have been named to Team Canada’s sitting volleyball team. This April, Smith became the Official National Business Education Partner of the Canadian Paralympic Committee.