The consensus among voters for the 2024 Canadian Press Award for Female Athlete of the Year required no explanation.
In the month before her 18th birthday, Summer McIntosh became the first Canadian to win three gold medals in a single Olympic Games, winter or summer, with a silver medal thrown in for good measure.
McIntosh was the top pick among sports editors, producers and reporters across Canada because of the Toronto swimmer's electric performance in Paris. She was selected with 52 out of 53 votes, with the other vote going to skeleton world champion Hallie Clarke of Brighton, Ont.
“Three golds at the Olympics. Need no other reason,” wrote TSN managing producer Jamie Bell.
The Canadian Press began recognizing male and female athletes of the year in 1932. McIntosh also became a repeat winner after earning the destination in 2023.
“It's always an honor, but to do it for the second year in a row to be recognized like this is pretty incredible,” McIntosh said.
Previous winners include hockey players Marie-Philippe Poulin (2022) and Haley Wickenheiser (2007), tennis players Lylah Fernandez (2021) and Bianca Andreescu (2019), soccer star Christine Sinclair (2020, 2012), golfer (2020, 2012), Golfer (2020, 2012), Haley Wickenheiser (2012, 2018) and swimmer Penny Oleksiak (2016).
See | McIntosh won the Northern Star Award via phone call in Budapest:
Watch as Summer McIntosh, fresh off winning gold and bronze medals at the World Aquatics Short Course Championships in Budapest, calls to inform her that she has been named Canada's Athlete of the Year.
McIntosh arrived in Paris with an ambitious program. The heats, including the semifinals and relays, ran 13 times over nine days at the Canadian La Defense Arena.
To climb the podium four times – to hear O Canada three times – was a feat of mind and body planning and management.
“Going into the Olympics, with all the training I put in every day and mentally, physically preparing for a nine-day long swim meet, I couldn't be more prepared and my results showed,” McIntosh said.
“I was really happy with how I did, but to be honest, I was proud of pushing myself to reach my full potential and prepare as best as I could, because that's what I do to give myself the biggest confidence. That.”
The world record holder was expected to win his bread and butter event. McIntosh didn't just deliver. She dominated and won by nearly six seconds, which World Aquatics said was the largest margin in 40 years.
“I definitely knew that gold was a possibility, so when I was finally able to do it, all my hard work and training paid off,” McIntosh said. “That was a really good moment because I knew I could do it, but actually doing it is something else.”
McIntosh then won gold in the 200m butterfly — which her mother, Jill Horsted, also swam in 1984 — and the 200m IM in Olympic-record time.
McIntosh and Olympic champion hammer thrower Ethan Katzberg were chosen to carry the Canadian flag during the closing ceremony at the Stade de France.
“Summer McIntosh had the weight of her country on her shoulders when she competed in Paris. Yet she shrugged off a lot of pressure and still pulled off one of the most remarkable Olympic performances in Canadian history. That's a champion,” wrote the Globe and Mail. Game Production Editor Phil King.
See | McIntosh returns to a childhood pool in Etobicoke:
One of Canada's most influential athletes was back in Toronto on Thursday night. Canadian teenage swimming superstar Summer McIntosh returned from Budapest with three world records and a handful of medals at the World Aquatics Swimming Championships. CBC's Dale Manucdoc was at the Etobicoke Swim Club where McIntosh met some of the young men who looked up to him.
McIntosh set a high bar for himself by going to Los Angeles in 2028. She is preparing to clear it.
“I'm still young. I want to stay in the sport as long as I enjoy the sport,” McIntosh said.
“Every day I feel like I'm more in love with it. It's such a fun sport. Anytime I go to a race, I remember why I love it so much and why we do all those mornings and all those hard training sessions, hours in the water every day. In running for those two minutes, which is a good way to look at it, I just want to reach my full potential.
She trains with the Sarasota Sharks in Florida under coach Brent Arkey. McIntosh says she will complete the last two classes needed to graduate from high school in 2025.
She keeps the Olympic medals in a wooden box. Each is wrapped in paper towel in individual plastic sandwich bags to prevent dings and dents. McIntosh spent three weeks at home in Canada after Paris, letting others enjoy his medal.
“I try to show my medals to as many people as possible who want to see them, because they are really nice to see and see in person,” she said.
“Just knowing that I inspire people that I think is really, really cool, and that kind of puts a weight on my shoulders that I know I want to continue, and keep me motivated to keep moving forward in the sport. 2028.”
