The history-making Canadian swimming sensation experiencing a summer like no other | CNN (2024)

Paris CNN —

What have you been up to so far in the summer?

Exploring the world? Learning a new language? Taking in the sights and sounds of music festivals?

How about rewriting the history books to become your country’s first ever triple champion at a single Olympic Games?

And, if that’s not enough, being personally congratulated by some of the world’s most recognizable political leaders?

This has been no ordinary summer; this has been the season of Canadian swimming sensation Summer McIntosh.

“It’s hard to sum up all what has happened in the past nine days,” the 17-year-old told CNN Sport’s Amanda Davies in Paris.

“I got to talk to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for a second time in a week, which is insane. I literally would never think that would ever happen,” she explains after he also called following the first of her three gold medals.

“It’s just an honor to know that we have his support. It means the world. … It’s just absolutely incredible for him to be the one to communicate that to me.”

Living up to the hype

The making of a summer like no other for McIntosh has been years in the making.

Just three years ago, the then 14-year-old beat Canadian legend Penny Oleksiak at the Olympic trials to book her place on the Canadian Olympic team.

Olympic champion Oleksiak later said of McIntosh: “I love Summer. I hate training with Summer. She does not die […] I know she has the gas on and it’s all gas, no brakes with her. I love her work ethic. She’s really strong in and out of the pool mentally.”

A matter of months later, McIntosh was competing at Tokyo 2020 as the youngest Canadian at the Games, where she narrowly missed out on a podium, finishing fourth in the 400m freestyle.

Canada's Summer McIntosh reacts after competing in a semi-final of the women's 200m freestyle swimming event during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The fresh-faced teen would go on to become a four-time world champion and 400m individual medley world record holder.

Paris was, therefore, primed for the teen to make the step up from prodigy to champion – and she’s lived up to the hype and then some.

Securing two Olympic record times? Check. Completing a golden medley double in the 200m and 400m? Check.

The Toronto-born swimmer ended her Parisian tour de force with four individual medals from a single Games – three golds and a silver – joining swimming great Michelle Smith, Katinka Hosszú and Kristin Otto as the only other women to do so at a single Summer Games.

“I would not change anything that I’ve done in my childhood to now to have these medals,” she explains.

“It’s hard to kind of put into words how exactly it feels. Sometimes, in the moments when you are sacrificing those things, it doesn’t feel worth it. But now, in the end, though, it’s worth it.”

Greatness inspires greatness

If McIntosh needs any inspiration, she needn’t look further than across the lane to American Katie Ledecky – a self-professed childhood hero of hers.

“I remember for a little project, I found one of her quotes and I made a poster of it and then I put that on my wall,” the Canadian prodigy smiles.

“[The quote] was something like, ‘Every race is a sprint. Some are just longer than others,’ because she does do more distance freestyle, so that’s a pretty core memory of my childhood.”

Just weeks before her 18th birthday, McIntosh was given an early birthday present in Paris in the form of being able to once again swim alongside her idol in the 400m freestyle race: the precocious teen claimed the silver and Ledecky the bronze.

The confident 17-year-old already seems a worthy successor to the American, but Ledecky showed in Paris that she’s by no means done, retaining both her 800m and 1,500m freestyle golds.

An underwater view shows Canada’s Summer McIntosh competing in the heats of women's 400m individual medley swimming event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, west of Paris, on July 29, 2024. (Photo by Manan VATSYAYANA / AFP)

And in winning the 800m, she became the joint all-time winningest female Olympian in any sport with nine golds.

“Katie, honestly, is an absolutely incredible athlete, and she achieved some historic swims at this Games once again,” said an effusive McIntosh.

“To see what she’s done in the sport is absolutely incredible, [and] to be in the same sentence as her is pretty crazy.”

Inspiring a new generation

Indeed, there is a feeling that these Games mark a transitional moment in the handing over of the baton from the current generation of stars to the so-called ‘Next Gen.’

For tennis, see Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz. For athletics, see Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Julien Alfred.

McIntosh has already been featured in Time Magazine while The New York Times dubbed the Olympics “Summer’s Games.”

Alongside her, it was another star of the pool, home favorite 22-year-old Léon Marchand who made his presence felt in the consciousness of the general public.

McIntosh knows all too well herself about the power that such impressive performances can make on swimming and non-swimming fans alike.

After all, it was watching Oleksiak and Kylie Masse at Rio 2016 that served as the inspiration to take up the sport of swimming.

So does see now herself as the torchbearer for the next wave of swimmers?

“It’s honestly an incredible responsibility and not something I take lightly,” she tells CNN’s Davies.

“If I can inspire one person, that’s absolutely unreal. Just because I know how much it affected me watching that back in Rio, it was absolutely incredible.

“Honestly, seeing that is partially the reason why I’m here today. To be a part of the people that I used to look up to, and now I’m in that position. … It’s pretty cool.

“I really hope I do my job and I can inspire the next generation.”

Family ties

Since bursting onto the scene in Tokyo, McIntosh has matured into a laser-focused competitor with a calm, composed demeanor.

Traits inherited from a family of sportsmen and women who are trained in the nuances and ways of adopting an elite-level mentality.

Her mother, Jill McIntosh (née Horstead), was a 200m butterfly swimmer and made her Olympic debut for Canada in the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Summer’s older sister Brooke is a competitive pair skater who competed at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne.

“They’re the reason I’m sitting here today. I think why I’m so competitive and why I’ve been very successful in the sport so far is because I have grown up in a family that understand sport on such a deep level.

NANTERRE, FRANCE - AUGUST 03: Gold Medalist Summer McIntosh of Team Canada celebrates with family following the Swimming medal ceremony after the Women's 200m Individual Medley Final on day eight of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Paris La Defense Arena on August 03, 2024 in Nanterre, France. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

“Even though my dad [Greg] doesn’t get mentioned often about sport, he also was an incredible athlete growing up. Not at the same level, but he also understands all the values and what it takes to be where I am today.”

Indeed, the career paths of Summer and Brooke could have been very different.

At eight years old, McIntosh had to decide whether to opt for the life of a figure skater or a swimmer.

“It’s weird because my sister was better at swimming and I was better at figure skating. And now she’s a figure skater and I’m a swimmer!” she laughs.

“I’m definitely glad I chose swimming because I don’t think I would have lasted and figure skating is the most nerve-wracking sport there is and it’s such a skill sport as well. You have to do basically everything aerobically, but you also have to look pretty while doing it.

“I always just had a different passion for swimming. And I knew that from a young age, and I just loved the competitiveness and the racing aspect of it.”

Perhaps the most interesting ingredient to Summer’s success has been none other than the family cat, Mikey – named after 23-time Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps.

“He’s the best cat ever. I’ve had so many cats in my life, and I do have two other cats, but Mikey’s this huge ginger cat, and he’s the sweetest guy you’ll ever meet.

“He’s the best and he’s the cutest little thing and he’s so happy all the time, so I’m very excited to see him.”