LAP IT UP: Summer McIntosh named Postmedia’s athlete of year

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Long before her daughter became one of the most accomplished swimmers in Canadian Olympic history, Jill McIntosh had an amusing window into her competitiveness.

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Summer McIntosh was just a little kid then, far from her world-class swimming form and a good decade before her whirlwind, three gold, one silver medal tour de force at the Paris Games this past summer.

Young Summer loved sports, be it running or swimming or whatever contest Jill and her husband Greg signed her up to play. So imagine their amusement the time the parents found a soccer trophy in the trash can of their Etobicoke home.

See, Summer’s team had just lost a championship game and in her still-developing competitive brain she couldn’t quite fathom why they’d hand some hardware to her.

“She was like, ‘they were better than us,’” Jill McIntosh said with a laugh recalling their daughter’s reaction. “She has a big respect for competitors. She thought it was crazy that she got the same trophy as someone who had an 8-0 record and they had like an 0-8 record.”

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There was a brief moment when the parents wondered whether they should intervene.

“Greg said to leave it,” Jill McIntosh recalled. “He said ‘That’s brilliant.’”

It’s a cute part of Summer’s backstory now, but in its own way a precursor of the ambition and drive that has taken her to places few athletes her age have gone.

The winning baubles are piling up now in the form of medals — an unprecedented run for a Canadian Olympian who at age 18 quite likely has her best years ahead of her. The dominant performance at the La Defense Arena in July and August helped wash away the scandal of the Canadian women’s soccer team. It also eclipsed the Rio Olympics breakthrough of teammate Penny Oleksiak back in 2016.

With those sensational results and her elevated superstar status on the world stage, McIntosh was our runaway winner both as Postmedia’s Canadian athlete of the year and the George Gross Award (named after the Toronto Sun‘s first sports editor) as Toronto’s athlete of the year.

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The best part? She may just be getting started as it’s tantalizing to ponder the great things yet to come.

Not that the Olympian efforts needed validation, but McIntosh’s performance at the recent World Short Course Championships in Budapest backed up her glorious Olympics in spectacular fashion. Picking up where she left off in Paris, she captured three more gold from her five medals and set three world records.

‘HISTORIC YEAR’

“Summer has had an historic year with her Olympic performances and just recently at in Budapest,” Swimming Canada’s high performance director and national coach John Atkinson said when we informed him of the fast-improving program’s superstar of her latest awards. “This wraps up a phenomenal year from a phenomenal athlete and person. Her achievements are unprecedented in Canadian sport and these awards are so rightly deserved. I congratulate Summer for her achievements.”

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Even though McIntosh’s ability was well known in swimming circles and those in the know expected big things from the then 17-year-old, Paris was her true coming out party. And over the course of the nine-day meet, it was like she grew up before a country’s eyes.

At first, it was raw athletic brilliance as she validated all those hours of training and the expectations that tailed her to France. A silver medal in her first event, the 400-metre freestyle where she faced some of the top women swimmers in the world, was the appetizer. Two days later, it was a dominating gold in her signature event, the 400-metre medley, which preceded subsequent wins in the 200-metre medley and 200-metre butterfly.

Early on, Summer was all business, so determined to remain in her rigid routine that in conjunction with her coach, Brent Arckey, was scripted to have just the type of success she was enjoying. But the more she swam and the more she won, the more comfortable she became with the whole scene, daily media obligations included.

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“I’m a professional napper,” she joked with me after one morning heat when explaining the importance of rest and recovery to grind through her rigorous and ambitious program.

As she captivated the sold-out crowds at the terrific Paris swimming venue and delighted big TV audiences back home, it was easy for a nation to fall in love with McIntosh. There were her O Canada singalongs on the podium — three of them, of course — and emotional moments shared with Greg and Jill after each of her gold medal wins. Those long embraces were emblematic of a family that sacrificed so much to help Summer achieve a near unfathomable display of athletic dominance on her sport’s biggest stage.

‘SUMMER IS A FREE SPIRIT’

“Summer is a free spirit,” Jill McIntosh said, reminding us that as precocious as she is in the water she can be a regular teen on dry land. “Don’t be fooled by her focus. She’s very good at switching gears.”

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That personality trait may be the most important as she navigates the upcoming years and a career that incredibly could include as many as three more Olympics. The fun and fun-loving side of the Toronto teen will be an important ballast to the competitive Summer.

As you might have gathered, family has been central to McIntosh’s foundation of success and will continue going forward to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Top of mind beyond remaining an elite competitor, is to manage all that comes with it.

“It’s a big four years for her age bracket,” Jill said of the transition from a 17-year-old breakthrough star to being a seasoned Olympian and potential star in L.A. “She’s going to be going through all of that. You just makes sure that she’s surrounded by the best people. Surrounded by people who bring her up. You might have to have a tight circle. She has surround herself with the best of the best. From a doctor, to a coach, to physio, to friends, to teammates — she’s very fortunate that way. You kind of become your environment.”

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Obviously that support bubble has worked well to date. Team McIntosh includes her parents, her teammates with the Sarasota Sharks, where she has thrived, and of course her coach there, Arckey who has marvelled not just at his prized pupil’s drive and ability but her input to planning strategy.

To that end, Arckey believes McIntosh’s mindset and athletic intellect are significant tools in her kit.

“If you love the process of trying to find ways to get better, I think longevity happens,” Arckey said. “She’s driven to finding ways to get better and that keeps her fresh and interested.”

The hours of training, the detailed planning and the commitment to being among the world’s greats had formed a formidable foundation for the then 17-year-old Toronto teenager. That she put it all together in France is testament to her own ability and some brilliant Games planning from all involved.

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Beyond that attention to detail, Jill McIntosh believes that there is an exceptional drive to her daughter that goes much deeper than child-like petulance over what amounted to a participation trophy.

‘FIRE IN HER BELLY’

“She had that fire in her belly from a very young age and I think she has a very high pain tolerance,” Jill said. “Her secret weapon is that pain tolerance. Her ability to push her body is exceptional.”

And now comes what could be the tricky part, although McIntosh and her family and support team seem well equipped to navigate what awaits. The aftermath of Penny Oleksiak’s breakthrough in Rio is instructive with all involved hoping McIntosh can use Paris is a building block rather than a career pinnacle.

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“Let’s face it, she’s a professional athlete,” Jill McIntosh says. “She has sponsorship obligations, she’s training 40 hours a week and then doing school. But the social part is really important to her and she has to have balance.”

Confident and self-assured, that personality emerged in the summer of Summer as McIntosh became more comfortable on the grand stage. By the end of the Olympics, she was talking less in muted cliches and intelligently articulating what makes her go.

“I’m always striving for more,” says Summer, whose accomplishments also earned her the female athlete of the year award from World Aquatic, the international governing body for swimming. “I always want more. That’s what keeps me in the sport. My job’s not finished. I have so much more I want to accomplish. I have so many more years in the sport for however long I want to go. It just keeps me motivated every single day.”

Is the best yet to come? Don’t bet against it.

“We look forward to seeing what this great young woman can continue to achieve while representing all that is great in being Canadian and also being a fantastic role model both in and out of the pool,” Atkinson said.

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