Canadian Olympians arrive home to cheers and waving flags

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The Olympic flag has been handed over to Rio de Janeiro, the flame has been extinguished and now Canada’s Olympians have returned home.

Carrying signs and waving flags, dozens of fans showed up at the airport to give our Olympians a rousing welcome.

Among them was rower Janine Hanson, who arrived at Pearson International Airport early Monday afternoon, showing off her silver medal.

“I cry when I hear people cheer for Canada, and this just gets me emotional because I just feel so proud, it’s so great to be able to represent your country and have people cheering for you all over the world,” Hanson said.

Other athletes landing at Pearson included the lone gold medalist Rosie MacLennan, silver medalists Adam van Koeverden and Tonya Verbeek and bronze medalists Mark de Jonge and Mark Oldershaw.

Although van Koeverden arrived home with his fourth Olympic medal, he said he’s the happiest for his best buddy.

“It’s fantastic, to see Mark Oldershaw cross the finish line with a medal was like a dream come true,” van Koeverden said.

Also arriving is Diana Matheson – who scored the winning goal in the Canadian women’s bronze-medal soccer game against France.

“We’ve seen amazing, great performances,” said Canada’s assistant chef de mission Sylvie Bernier.

“We’ve seen what our Olympians can do on the field of play. Now we can concentrate on who they are and go back to the person behind the performance. For all of us, they are amazing, amazing ambassadors.”

All told, Canadians took home 18 medals — one gold, five silver and 12 bronze – matching the number won in Beijing and placing the country in 13th place in the overall medal standings at London 2012.

Canada sits at 36th when gold medals are taken into account.

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