Canada has been in almost all of the Summer Games since they first were represented in the 1900 Summer Games in Paris, France, missing only the inaugural Games of 1896 and the Moscow Games of 1980. Ronald MacDonald represented Canada in the marathon while George Orton ran the hurdles and steeplechase. Across both Olympics, Canada has now won 597 medals – 351 at the Summer Games and 246 at the Winter Games.

George Orton, who came with the US delegation to the Games, made history by being the first to bring home an Olympic medal to Canada. Orton won not one, but two Olympic medals. He took the bronze for the men's 400 meter hurdles and the gold in the men's 2500 meter steeplechase. His medals are disputed, however: because Orton was entered through the American University of Pennsylvania, the IOC's own records credit them to the United States, which would make Étienne Desmarteau's win in the 56-pound weight throw at St. Louis in 1904 the first Olympic title won by a Canadian.

The 1900 Summer Games also set a trend for Canada as one of the consistent medal winners because from their very first outing, Canadian athletes have won Olympic medals except in 1980 when Canada participated in the US-led boycott of the Moscow Games. Gold has been harder to come by – Canada finished without a single title in 1924, 1948, 1960, 1972 and 1976 – but recent Games have gone well, with 24 medals in Tokyo and then 27 medals, nine of them gold, in Paris in 2024, their biggest haul since the boycott-affected Los Angeles Games of 1984.

The story is not that much different for the Winter Games. Canada has been a part of the Winter Games since 1924. As a matter of fact, they have never been absent from the Winter Games since their debut. In 1924, the Canadian ice hockey team took the top spot in Chamonix, France establishing a strong precedence for Canada.

As with the Summer Games, Canada is also one of the top countries in the Winter Games, winning Olympic medals in every outing. In 2010 they not only hosted the Games but they also dominated the scoreboard, earning 14 gold medals – the highest gold medal count of all of the participating countries, and a Winter Olympic record at the time. Their largest total came eight years later at PyeongChang, where they won 29 medals. At the most recent Winter Games, Milano Cortina 2026, Canada took 21 medals for 11th place.

Trivia

  • Canada have hosted the summer Olympic Games only once, in Montreal 1976, though they have hosted the Winter Games twice, in Calgary in 1988 and Vancouver in 2010.
  • Canada is the only country to have hosted the Olympics and failed to win a gold medal on home soil — and they managed it twice, at Montreal in 1976 and again at Calgary in 1988. The drought finally ended at Vancouver in 2010.
  • Now a province of Canada, Newfoundland has a brief Olympic past.
  • At the 1924 Olympics, Canadian William Barnes won silver in team trap shooting, while his son Rolph Barnes ran the 1500m the same year.
  • Lacrosse has been on the official Olympic program twice, in 1904 and 1908, with a team from Canada winning both times. The sport returns at Los Angeles 2028, in the six-a-side format.
  • The first Black Canadian athlete to win an Olympic medal was Raymond "Rapid Ray" Lewis. He won a bronze medal in the 4x400m relay during the 1932 Olympic Games in LA.
  • In 1988, Canadian Ben Johnson beat Carl Lewis in the 100-meter dash with a world-record time of 9.79 seconds. Shortly thereafter, he tested positive for steroid use and was stripped of his medal.
  • Canadian show jumper Ian Millar made a record-breaking 10th Olympic appearance in London 2012. He competed in the equestrian competition at every Olympics from 1972 to 2012 except for the 1980 Moscow Games that Canada boycotted.
  • Swimmer Penny Oleksiak is the most decorated Canadian Olympian, with seven medals from Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. At Paris 2024, teenage swimmer Summer McIntosh became the first Canadian to win three gold medals at a single Summer Games.