Summer McIntosh, of Canada, poses for a photo with her gold medal after winning the women's 200-metre butterfly final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, on Aug. 1 in Nanterre, France.Matthias Schrader/The Associated Press
After Summer McIntosh stood on the podium with her second gold medal of the Paris Olympics, her parents leaned in from the stands, gave her a hug, and thanked her for playing their favourite song.
That’s right – O Canada is practically on repeat for the McIntosh family this week.
For the second time in four days, the 17-year-old from Toronto claimed a gold medal at the Paris La Défense Arena on Thursday, and once more in thrilling fashion. Ms. McIntosh won the 200-metre butterfly by fighting off swimmers from the United States and China to touch the wall first.
It was her third trip to the podium, making Ms. McIntosh the first Canadian swimmer to win three individual medals at an Olympics.
And after also winning the 400-metre individual medley on Monday, Ms. McIntosh is the first Canadian woman in any sport to win two individual gold medals at a single Games.
But on Thursday, of all the many events Ms. McIntosh is racing in Paris, this particular race was a family affair.
Her mother, Jill, swam the same 200-metre butterfly for Canada at the 1984 Olympics.
Mom placed ninth – her daughter shaved more than 10 seconds off her time, leaving Jill in the stands jumping up and down as Summer headed for the finish.
“Sharing that moment with her was pretty cool,” Summer said after the race.
“I know she’s just so proud of me, along with the rest of my family. But just to have them here, I can’t thank them enough for all their support and sacrifices.”
Before the race, her family provided some private words of encouragement.
“We told her the country was behind her,” her father, Greg, said. “Go do what you do.”
And she did. What Ms. McIntosh does, to be exact, is swim faster than most of the world right now. And she’s been doing a lot of it.
Just over an hour after winning the 200-metre butterfly, Ms. McIntosh got back in the pool in a bid to help the women’s 4x200-metre relay team find the podium. It didn’t work out; the squad placed fourth behind powerhouses Australia, the United States and China.
The science of how Summer McIntosh rests between races
But it was another example of the massive workload Ms. McIntosh is undertaking at these Olympics in her history-making pursuit of multiple medals. She will contend for a fourth medal on Saturday in the 200-metre individual medley, and will likely find her way into another relay final. All told, she will have swum roughly three kilometres in Paris by the time the Games are over.
Perhaps the most remarkable feat she’s pulled off yet is finding a way to refocus after the first gold medal Monday, then grabbing another gold in the butterfly Thursday. Between those two races were interviews, texts from her sister with a discussion about their cats at home, and a phone call from the Prime Minister. But Ms. McIntosh said she’s been doing her best to rest, relax and refocus after each medal, putting newly won hardware behind her, and looking ahead.
“It’s a lot more simple than probably people think behind the scenes. All I’m doing is eating and sleeping, other than when I’m swimming,” she said. “Just keep it simple, try to rest my brain as much as I do my body, and that’s kind of what works best for me.”
Asked if she gets nervous – because it doesn’t show during the races – Ms. McIntosh said not really.
“I just get adrenaline and anticipation and I really try to feel the energy,” she said.
Her mother has imparted some wisdom from her Olympic experience 40 years ago.
“I just remind Summer, most of the swimmers you’re swimming against you already have faced,” she said, including at other meets like the world championships and the Commonwealth Games.
“It’s the same field you’re competing against. But there’s a lot more distractions. There’s a lot more pressure, there’s a lot more people in the stands, it’s even just noisier,” her mother said.
“You don’t want to block it all out though because I think it’s impossible. You have to embrace some of it and just say, ‘okay this is part of the Olympics and just keep your strengths in mind, and keep focused.’ ”
Her coach, Brent Arckey, said they spent the past year plotting out an Olympic scenario in Sarasota, Fla., where Ms. McIntosh trains. That meant putting her through high-intensity situations, and pushing her to the limit even in practice, especially after she had just returned from a meet. They wanted to emulate the rebound-and-race, rinse-and-repeat approach they were to attempt at the Games.
“It’s something we rehearsed,” Mr. Arckey said.
“Maybe you’re coming off a swim meet and you’re doing something fast afterwards, you have all these opportunities to get up and rehearse high-performance efforts over and over and over again,” he said. “And that’s just setting up a chaotic situation, teaching somebody to achieve in those situations.”
Her time in the 200-metre butterfly, 2 minutes 3.03 seconds, was an Olympic record, and the second-fastest time in the history of the event. American Regan Smith took silver in a time of 2:03.84, while China’s Yufei Zhang claimed bronze in 2:05.09.
With a silver medal Saturday in the 400-metre freestyle, the 400-metre individual medley gold on Monday and another win Thursday, the hardest thing for Ms. McIntosh and her coach is to fight off the urge to celebrate. There is still work to do, including her next podium bid on Saturday.
Celebrating only brings distraction.
“We’re trying to get to the end of this thing,” Mr. Arckey said. ”And then we’ll be able to take the deep breath.”