Canadian Review | A Summer McIntosh Summer at the Pool

(Montreal) If there is one athlete who captured the attention of all of Canada during the Paris Olympic Games, it was swimmer Summer McIntosh.

McIntosh, whose first name was inspired by the character Summer Roberts in the American series Newport Beachwon three gold medals and another silver in the swimming pool at the Paris Olympic Games.

She is Canada’s first triple gold medallist at an Olympic Games, winter or summer. The Toronto swimmer joins teammate Penny Oleksiak as the only Canadian women to win four medals at a Summer Games.

“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet,” McIntosh said at a news conference at Canada Olympic House on Monday. “I’m sleep deprived and tired, but coming here today I knew it would be fun to celebrate what Swimming Canada has done alongside my friends and teammates.”

“It’s great, but it will definitely take me some time to realize exactly what we have done. I will realize more once I return to Canada,” she concluded.

Those absolutely remarkable performances by the 17-year-old have propelled the Canadian team through the Olympic fortnight. After all, eight medals in the individual distances, including three gold and a silver for McIntosh, are a Canadian record at a non-boycotted Summer Games.

The Canadian swimming team also won eight medals at the 1976 Montreal Games, but three in the relay. It won 10 medals at the boycotted 1984 Los Angeles Games, including two in the relay.

Canada finished third overall in swimming in Paris, behind the United States (28 medals) and Australia (18).

The representatives of the maple leaf have also become the gods of the stadium in one discipline in particular: the hammer throw.

After Canadian Ethan Katzberg won the gold medal in the men’s hammer throw with a throw of 84.12 metres, his compatriot Camryn Rogers repeated the feat two days later in the women’s event with a throw of 76.97 metres. A feat unique in the country’s history.

Should we recall that three years earlier, Rogers had made history in her Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games, becoming the first Canadian woman to reach the Olympic final?

This is without counting Canada’s surprise victory in the men’s 4×100 metres relay, a feat unseen since the Atlanta Games in 1996.

This race caps some eight years of steady progress for this quartet, which won silver at the 2021 Tokyo Games. In 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Akeem Haynes was running in place of Brandon Rodney, one of the members of the current champion relay. The group then climbed to the third step of the podium.

With this medal, Andre De Grasse now joins swimmer Penny Oleksiak as the most decorated Canadian athlete at the Olympics with seven medals, two gold, two silver and three bronze.

Disappointments and controversies

Of course, as with every Olympic Games, there were also disappointments. This was particularly the case in judo, where the head coach of the Canadian team, Antoine Valois-Fortier, had mentioned the possibility of bringing home two to three medals a few weeks ago.

Canada instead left the French capital with just one medal in judo – Christa Deguchi’s gold, the country’s first in history, in the 57kg – a haul well below the aspirations of this promising delegation.

These Games were also marked by numerous controversies, notably because of the spy scandal involving the Canadian women’s soccer team.

The representatives of the maple leaf, in turmoil in the middle of the Olympic tournament, offered a heroic effort to get out of the group stage – despite the fact that FIFA had deducted six ranking points – before lowering the flag to Germany in the quarter-finals.

It’s a safe bet that this scandal, which attracted the attention of the entire planet during the first days of the Olympic Games, has not finished making headlines in the country, while numerous investigations continue to shed light on practices at Canada Soccer.

It should also be noted that the quality of the water in the Seine — the backdrop to one of the most beautiful opening ceremonies in the history of the Olympic Games, which culminated in a memorable performance by Quebec singer Céline Dion — caused many headaches for the organizing committee.

Levels of fecal bacteria E. coli and enterococcus in the French tributary have led to a series of postponements of triathlon events, with several athletes falling ill allegedly due to the water quality.

France shone brightly

Despite all this, France will have thrilled the entire world for a fortnight in the middle of summer 2024. It will have been able to welcome the world safely, and present picture-postcard settings in the four corners of the city — think of the beach volleyball events, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, or the equestrian sports at the Palace of Versailles — breathtaking.

And what about the athletes, who often give a little more when the Olympic Games are held in their backyard. Those from France got the message in Paris.

France had already put on a spectacular show with a spectacular opening ceremony, but its athletes continued the fireworks in several disciplines.

Whether it was the four gold medals of Léon Marchand, the king of the pool, the domination of the colossus Teddy Riner in judo — as well as the work of his teammates in this discipline — or the brilliance of the fencing team, France knew how to thrive under pressure. What can we also say about its podium sweep in the men’s BMX race? A real “crazy thing”.

The 64 French medals, 16 gold, 26 silver and 22 bronze, were the fourth highest total at the Paris Games, but it is also the best Olympic haul for “France” since 1900, all Games combined.

If France didn’t seem to be feeling the Olympic excitement a few weeks before their start, it certainly had some joy to offer thanks to breathtaking performances and scenery. It really “lit the fire,” as Johnny Hallyday sang.

For its part, Canada finished these Games with a record haul of 27 medals, including nine gold, to finish in 11th place.^e rung of the medal standings. A performance that surpasses that of the Tokyo Games in 2021, where the maple leaf had collected 24 podiums (7-7-10). The Canadian record for a Summer Games is 44 medals, set in Los Angeles in 1984.

So the world has set a date in four years, in other settings—those of the cinema?—in California, for the Los Angeles Games. And who knows, McIntosh, who will then be barely 21 years old, and his teammates in the Canadian delegation will be able to offer us a real Hollywood scenario by pushing their limits even further?