Sports in Canada: the most popular and practiced in the Country
Canada is characterized by its high quality of life, its educational system, its society, the richness of its landscapes and a large number of positive elements that make it a very desirable destination. However, we can not ignore or overlook the sport in Canada and the influence it has on the country and its inhabitants.
Sports in Canada: the most outstanding
The first sport that comes to mind when you think of this country is hockey; however, when it comes to watch matches and place sports betting in Canada, there are others as representative as lacrosse or hockey, and also a great fondness for sports such as baseball, soccer or basketball.
Hockey
Hockey has a great importance in Canada, it has its origins in the 19th century when several stick sports of English influence arrived in the country, evolving to become the sport we know today.
This sport is an important symbol of the Canadian identity, in a multicultural country with a great variety of inhabitants, hockey acts as a cohesive element among them. So much so that it is the national winter sport, and its influence goes beyond Canadian borders and is now part of the Olympic Winter Games.
The National Hockey League is the largest and most relevant league in North America and the rest of the world, and the Stanley Cup is an annual field hockey championship that is the oldest trophy in the United States. The size of these championships is a reflection of the importance of the sport on a national level.
Lacrosse
Another of the most characteristic national sports is lacrosse, although this is a summer sport and not a winter sport. This sport is played with sticks with a net on top. The objective of lacrosse is to shoot the ball towards the opponent's goal in order to score a goal, being able to make passes between teammates to do so.
Lacrosse has its origins in the American and Canadian tribes of the XVII century, at the beginning it was very little regulated and there was no limitation of participants. As they were tribes confronted against other tribes, there were cases of lacrosse matches in which up to 1000 people participated.
Little by little and with the influence of the European settlers (the Jesuits of Ontario were the first) who were fascinated by this sport, lacrosse was gradually institutionalized and evolved until it became a regulated sport as we know it today.
Soccer
Another of the most popular summer sports in Canada, although not as popular as the previous ones, is soccer. This is why, although there is a national league of professional teams, most of them play in the United States league, since it is still far from the relevance of the previous ones.
Despite not being one of the iconic sports of this nation, the men's national team has participated twice in the World Cup, in 1986 and in the latest edition in 2022. It has also won the CONCACAF Gold Cup (North, Central American and Caribbean tournament) in 1985 and in 2020.
Baseball
Baseball is another sport that has taken hold at both the professional and amateur levels in Canada. The North American country has a rich tradition in this sport and has contributed both top-level teams and historic players to the sport.
Larry Walker, a Canadian player, was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2020 and is considered one of the best players in history. There are more outstanding and internationally recognized players such as Jason Bay, Russell Martin or Joey Votto.
In addition, a Canadian team, the Toronto Blue Jays, belongs to Major League Baseball (MLB), winning two World Series and having a great recognition and admiration by the whole country. On the other hand, Canada has its own professional league, founded in 1969, and through which players with a great reputation have also played.
It is one of the axes that Canada promotes to propel and unite its inhabitants. We have already said that hockey is one of the unifying elements of society, and in general sport is an important sector for this country. A reflection of this is that it is the second most successful country in the Olympic Winter Games, winning 168 medals, only behind Norway.
Canada has hosted the Olympic Games twice, in 1988 and 2010. The 2010 Summer Olympics were a great success for the country. In addition to doing well in winning 64 medals, it was a success in terms of job creation and serving as a gallery for the international arena.
Olympic Games
The North American country has participated 27 times in the Summer Olympic Games, the first of these being in Paris 1900, more than 120 years ago. It has played an outstanding role in this modality, winning 326 medals: 71 of them gold. The remaining metals are divided into 110 silvers and 145 bronzes.
In the Winter Games, its role has not been as relevant. Canada has so far won 225 medals in this modality: 77 golds, 72 silvers and 76 bronzes. A more discrete representation despite having hosted the Games twice and having a sport as closely linked to its identity as ice hockey.
Canada's best performance at the Olympic Games was in Los Angeles in 1984, when it won 44 medals. On the other hand, the sports in which Canada has won the most medals are athletics in the summer, with 66 medals, and short track skating in the winter, with 37 medals.
