Future bright for 'golden age' of Canadian swimmers as focus shifts to Los Angeles 2028
After winning 3 golds in Paris, teen star McIntosh says she's striving for more
When the Canadian swimmers gathered in Caen ahead of the Olympics, they soaked in the history around them in the French port city, and talked about making some history of their own.
And leave a mark they did, as Canada finished with eight medals in the pool. It was the best result in a non-boycotted Olympic Games since 1976.
Seventeen-year-old sensation Summer McIntosh, responsible for half of those medals, became the first Canadian to earn three golds at one Olympic Games — etching her name in history.
Ilya Kharun and Josh Liendo became the first Canadian men to get on the podium since 2012, with Kharun earning two bronze and Liendo a silver.
Kylie Masse, a role model for so many swimmers on this team and a key part of the program's breakthrough in Rio in 2016, also won her fifth-career Olympic medal. A bronze in the 200-metre backstroke made Masse the first Canadian swimmer to win individual medals at three consecutive Games.
WATCH | Masse earns 5th career Olympic medal:
They make up what Swimming Canada national team coach and high performance director, John Atkinson, calls a "golden age" in the pool.
Atkinson sees a bright future as the program looks ahead to Los Angeles 2028, when the Olympics will return to North America and swimmers will compete under the bright lights of SoFi Stadium, home of the NFL's LA Chargers and LA Rams. More than 35,000 people will be able to pack into that arena to watch Olympic swimming.
"You look at the age of [McIntosh], 17. She'll be 21 in LA," Atkinson told CBC's Asha Tomlinson on the pool deck on Saturday, the final day of swimming competition.
"[Liendo], he'll be 25 in LA. [Kharun] will be 23. They're the medallists and there's a lot of other younger athletes who are all going to still be around and racing in LA."
On the pool deck inside Paris' La Défense Arena, veteran CBC swimming analyst Byron MacDonald said the sentiment from delegations around the world was that Canada had one of the best swimming meets of any country at the Olympics.
'A generational talent'
That was led by McIntosh, who MacDonald describes as a "generational talent."
"What happens is it pulls up the rest of your program as well and then you start winning more medals, like Canada did at this Olympic Games," said MacDonald, also coaches the University of Toronto's swim program.
"It builds on itself. And you know what? It's nice to walk amongst the leading swimming nations in the world like the United States, like the Aussies, and have them say, 'Wow, you guys are doing a great job.'"
WATCH | McIntosh's inspiring performance only the beginning:
McIntosh — who will celebrate her 18th birthday on Aug. 18 — told reporters at a press conference in Paris on Monday that what she'd accomplished hadn't quite sunk in yet.
She'll head back to Canada on Tuesday, and plans to relax the way most 17-year-olds might: by going shopping, hanging out with her friends and spending time with family.
While McIntosh plans to take her mind off swimming for a few weeks, next up for her is heading back to school — she's still got high school to finish — and back to the Sarasota Sharks, the program she trains with in Florida with her coach, Brent Arckey.
College is on the horizon, but The Associated Press reported that McIntosh won't be swimming for an NCAA program in the United States, as her family looks for a bit more flexibility in her training and meet schedule.
Though the scale and significance of what McIntosh has accomplished might not sink in until she's back on Canadian soil, there's no doubt McIntosh is a superstar. Anyone who didn't already know that certainly knows that now.
Asked if she knows how much her life has changed, McIntosh said that's not a focus for her.
"Of course, I appreciate the support and the attention is awesome, it just shows how much love and passion we have as a nation," she said.
"But for me, I mean, the reason I'm doing this is just because I have so much love for the sport and since a young age, I've always had a passion for it. That's why I've done it and that's why I'll continue to do it."
Striving for more
There will be four years to build into the Olympics in LA. It will be a full cycle between Summer Games, which didn't happen between the delayed-Tokyo Olympics and Paris.
Some swimmers on the Canadian team won't be in LA. Kelsey Wog, who just competed in her second Olympics, told reporters that Paris would be her last one.
Others, like 23-year-old Finlay Knox, plan to work toward 2028.
"If it does take place in a massive stadium like [SoFi] and there's thousands of people watching, I want to be a part of that," Knox said about the prospect of competing in LA. "Hopefully I can progress from where I was this Games and go bigger."
For McIntosh, it'll be four years to watch her progression in the pool.
"I think she will get even better, which means she's going to get faster, which means we might see world records there, not just gold medals," MacDonald said.
"And she might even get to the point where she adds another event to her program."
MacDonald expects some of her biggest competitors in Paris will have moved on by 2028. He doesn't see anyone who threatens her dominance in the pool.
WATCH | McIntosh fields questions from fans:
"At this point, Summer's biggest competition is Summer," he said. "Right now, I don't know if in three or four years from now, there's anybody that's going to be able to touch her. That's how good this young woman is."
Four years is a long time in the swimming world, and McIntosh's next competitor might be someone who hasn't even been identified yet.
She was asked on Sunday by The Canadian Press whether it might feel daunting to replicate, or even surpass, what she's done at these Games.
Not at all, the teen said.
"I'm always striving for more and I always want more, and I think that's what keeps me in the sport is the job is not finished," she said.
"I have so much left I want to accomplish. I'm only 17. I have many more years in the sport, however long I want to go."
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With files from The Associated Press and CBC's Asha Tomlinson
