No explanation required was the consensus among voters for The Canadian Press award for 2024 female athlete of the year.
During 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 overwhelming choice among sports editors, producers and reporters across Canada because of the Toronto swimmer's electric performance in Paris. She was selected on 52 of the 53 votes cast, with the othervote going to skeleton world champion Hallie Clarke of Brighton, Ont.
"Three golds at the Olympics. No other reason needed," wrote TSN managing producer Jamie Bell.
The Canadian Press began recognizing male and female athletes of the year in 1932. McIntosh was a repeat winner after also earning the distinction in 2023.
"It's always an honour, but to do it for a second year in a row is pretty incredible to be recognized like this," McIntosh said.
Previous winners include hockey players Marie-Philip Poulin (2022) and Hayley Wickenheiser (2007), tennis players Leylah Fernandez (2021) and Bianca Andreescu (2019), soccer star Christine Sinclair (2020, 2012), golfer Brooke Henderson (2015, 2017, 2018) and swimmer Penny Oleksiak (2016).
McIntosh arrived in Paris with an ambitious program. Including heats, semifinals and relays, the Canadian raced 13 times over nine days at La Defense Arena.
Ascending the podium four times — three times to hear O Canada — was a feat of mind and body planning and management.
"Just going into the Olympics, all the training that I did on a day-to-day basis, and mentally, physically preparing for a nine-day-long swim meet, I couldn't have been more prepared and my results showed that," McIntosh said.
"I was really happy with how I did, but honestly, I was just more proud of me pushing myself to reach my full potential and preparing as best as possible, because I do that to give myself the most confidence going into a huge meet like that."
Her silver medal in the women's 400-metre freestyle on opening night at La Defense laid the foundation for her next race, which was the 400-metre individual medley.
The world record holder was expected to win her 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 getting gold was a possibility, so when I finally was able to do it, all my hard work and training came into fruition," McIntosh said. "That was a really cool moment because I knew I could do it, but to actually get it done is a different thing."
McIntosh then won gold in the 200-metre butterfly — which her mother Jill Horstead also swam in 1984 — and the 200-metre I.M. in Olympic-record time.
McIntosh and Olympic champion hammer thrower Ethan Katzberg were chosen to carry Canada's flag in the closing ceremonies at Stade de France.
"Summer McIntosh had the weight of her country on her shoulders when she competed in Paris. Yet she blanked out most of the pressure and still pulled off one of the most remarkable Olympic performances in Canadian history. That's a champion," wrote Globe and Mail sports production editor Phil King.
McIntosh set a high bar for herself heading into Los Angeles in 2028. She's preparing to clear it.
"I am still so young. I want to stay in the sport as long as I can as long as I enjoy it," McIntosh said.
"Every day I think I fall more in love with it. It's such a fun sport. Any time I get to race, I'm reminded on why I love it so much and why we do all those early mornings and all that hard training, hours and hours every day just for those two minutes in the water in a race, which is kind of a cool way to look at it. All I want to accomplish is just reaching my full potential, whatever that means."
McIntosh put an exclamation mark on 2024 by winning the women's 400 freestyle, 200 butterfly and 400 individual medley — all in world-record time — as well as backstroke silver and relay bronze in December's world short-course championships in Budapest, Hungary.
She trains with Florida's Sarasota Sharks under coach Brent Arckey. McIntosh says she'll complete the last two classes she needs to graduate from high school in 2025.
She keeps her Olympic medals in a wooden box. Each is wrapped in paper towels in individual plastic sandwich bags to prevent dings and dents. McIntosh let others enjoy her medals during her post-Paris three weeks at home in Canada.
"I try to show my medals to as many people as possible that want to see them, just because they are really cool to see and see in person," she said.
"Just knowing that I'm inspiring people I think is really, really cool, and it also kind of keeps a weight on my shoulders that I know I want to keep going, and keeps me motivated to keep pushing forward with the sport heading into 2028."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 26, 2024.
Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press
