Canadian athletes had competed in every Summer Olympic Games since 1900 with the exception of 1980, which were boycotted in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

[6] Equestrian show jumper Ian Millar competed at his ninth Summer Olympics, tying the record set by Hubert Raudaschl.

[11] Previous world champion hurdler Perdita Felicien officially announced on July 14 that she would not compete.

* The athlete who finished in second place, Lyudmila Blonska of Ukraine, tested positive for a banned substance.

Adam Trupish qualified for the Olympics by reaching the quarterfinal at the 2007 AIBA World championships.

[21] # – Indicates that points do not count in team total Canada qualified all of its current quota places via the world ranking (Pan-Am zone).

[22] Canada's men's team qualified for Beijing by defeating Argentina 2–2 (5–4 on penalties) in the final of the 2007 Pan-American games.

[25][26][27] Prior to the tournament, Amber Allen withdrew injured and was replaced on 3 August 2008 by Jodi-Ann Robinson, who was initially selected as an alternate player.

[30][31] No Canadian man made an apparatus final, with Kyle Shewfelt finishing ninth on vault and eleventh on floor exercise in the qualifying round.

The Canadian team similarly failed to advance to the final, finishing ninth and missing out by less than four-tenths of a point.

Two Canadian men, Adam Wong and Nathan Gafuik, did advance to the all-around final.

World champion Karine Sergerie secured an additional berth for Canada, this time in the women's −67 kg, by finishing second at the Pan American Taekwondo Qualification Tournament in Cali, Colombia.

In Beijing 2008, Sergerie made Silver after advancing to the finals opposite to Kyungseon of Korea who secured the gold.

[47] Canada then qualified two men's weightlifters by finishing second among non-qualified teams at the 2008 Pan American Championships held in Callao, Peru.

[48] Christine Girard, who competed in the women's 63 kg category initially finished in fourth place.