East Toronto’s Aaron Brown wins Olympic gold in Paris as member of Canada’s 4×100-metre men’s relay team

The third time was golden for East Toronto sprinter Aaron Brown as he won a gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games earlier this month as a member of the Canadian men’s 4×100-metre relay team.

The 32-year-old Brown, who grew up in East Toronto and attended Bowmore Road Public School and Birchmount Park Collegiate, ran the first leg of the relay final on Aug. 9 at the Stade de France in Paris.

Brown passed the baton to Jerome Blake, who then passed it to Brendon Rodney who then passed it to Andre De Grasse for the anchor leg of the race and the gold medal win. The Canadian men, running in Lane 9, finished the race with a time of 37.50 seconds, including an anchor leg of 8.89 seconds by De Grasse.

The silver medal went to South Africa (with a time of 37.57 seconds) and the bronze to Great Britain (with a time of 37.61 seconds).

The last time the Canadian men’s 4x100m relay team won Olympic gold was in 1996 with the legendary team of Donovan Bailey, Brunie Surin, Glenroy Gilbert and Robert Esmie.

For Brown, it was his third Olympic medal in a row in the 4x100m men’s relay. He was a member of the team that won the bronze in 2016 in Rio, and the silver in 2021 in Tokyo.

Brown, who also competed in the 200m race but did not advance to the finals in Paris, first competed for Canada in the 2012 London Olympics where he ran in the 200m race and just fell short of qualifying for the final.

With the gold medal in the men’s 4x100m relay, De Grasse has tied Beacher Penny Oleksiak as Canada’s most decorated Olympian. They have both won seven medals.

Penny Oleksiak speaks at a fundraiser for the Daily Bread Food Bank in Kew Gardens park in this Beach Metro Community News file photo.

Oleksiak, 24, took part in the Paris Olympics as a member of Canada’s women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team. The team finished fourth in the finals, just out of the medals.

Oleksiak also swam the freestyle portion of the women’s 4x100m medley relay to help Canada win their qualifying heat, but she did not swim in the final race of that event. Canada also finished fourth in that race.

These were Oleksiak’s third Olympics in a row. As a 16-year-old at the Rio Olympics in 2016, she won won a gold medal in the 100m freestyle; a silver in the 100m butterfly; and bronze medals in the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays.

In the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Oleksiak won a silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay and bronze medals in the 4x100m medley relay and the 4x200m freestyle relay.

Other East Toronto athletes that Beach Metro Community News is aware  of that took part in the 2024 Paris Olympics were park skateboarder Faye De Fazio Ebert, 14; and Balmy Beach Canoe Club members Courtney Stott and Nick Matveev.

De Fazio Eberet, the youngest member of the Canadian Olympic team in Paris, did not reach the finals of her event.

Stott competed as a member of Canada’s K-4 500-metre women’s team in Paris. The team did not reach the finals of the event.

Matveev also competed in the K-4 500 metre race as a member of the Canadian men’s team. The team did not reach the finals of the event.

Balmy Beach Canoe Club members Nick Matveev and Courtney Stott at the club prior to heading to the Olympic Games in Paris. Photo: Susan Legge.