With what could have been her last Olympic games, Christine Sinclair accomplished her biggest goal.
The pride of Burnaby and the Canadian Women's National Soccer Team stunned Sweden 1-1 (3-2) in penalties to win the first gold medal for women's soccer in Canadian history after a shaky start.
With constant pressure on the Canadians from the start, Sweden opened the scoring in the 35th minute, thanks to Stina Blackstenius.
But Canada regrouped at halftime and in the 64th minute, Sinclair was taken down in the box with no penalty initially called but upon second look via video review, a penalty was awarded to Canada.
For the second straight game, Jessie Fleming was cool and collected from the spot, slotting home the penalty to tie the game in the 66th minute.
In the 86th minute, Sinclair was subbed out of the match and replaced by Jordyn Huitema.
After the full 90 minutes played, the game would go into extra time and with no goals scored, penalty kicks would decide who was going to be taking home the gold medal.
Sweden missed four of its six penalties while Canada missed three of its six.
“Coming into this Olympic tournament, Christine Sinclair was widely regarded as the greatest women’s soccer player in history. With this result, there is no doubt,” City of Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley said in a news release after the game.
"Christine not only serves as the leader on her team – she is a wonderful role model and ambassador for Burnaby on the world’s stage, and we were all so proud to see her and the rest of Team Canada enjoy so much success at the 2020 Olympic Games.”
