Canada’s first athlete to win three gold medals in one Olympic Games was met with a rousing welcome at Toronto’s Pearson airport when she returned home Tuesday after a record-setting run in Paris.
Crowded by fans and cameras after stepping off the plane, McIntosh thanked Canadians for their support, saying she was still getting used to being an Olympic champion.
“I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet,” she said.
McIntosh brought home a Canadian record three gold medals at this year’s Paris Olympics, winning the 200-metre butterfly, the 400-metre medley and the 200-metre individual medley. She also won a silver medal in the 400-metre freestyle, matching teammate Penny Oleksiak’s record of four medals at a Summer Games.
Toronto’s Summer McIntosh captured her third gold medal at Paris 2024, winning the women’s 200-metre individual medley final, to go along with her silver medal in the women’s 400-metre freestyle.
McIntosh said a win in one event stood out especially.
“The fact that my mom swam the 200 fly back in the 1984 Olympic Games, and for me to get the gold medal in the 2024 Games, it’s pretty cool,” she said, flanked by her family on both sides.
McIntosh set an Olympic record in that event and the 200-metre individual medley. McIntosh’s mother, Jill, said it was “an amazing experience” for her whole family.
“We are so, so proud of Summer, how hard she’s worked. And all her hard work’s paid off,” she told reporters Tuesday. “As parents, you can’t be more proud.”
Others in the crowd were simply proud as Canadians.
“She’s such a wonderful person to be supporting our country,” said Mark Caponi, who said he and his brother David are family friends who’d come to welcome McIntosh home.
Others, like Emily Harrison, didn’t know McIntosh personally, but felt compelled to come out and cheer her on in person. Harrison said she came to the airport just to catch a glimpse of McIntosh and congratulate her on her success.
“She’s one of my favourite Canadian swimmers,” she said.
McIntosh said she was grateful for the support and she’s glad to be finished with competition for a while.
“Now I’ll take some time off training and racing and stuff, and swimming in general, so that I can kind of enjoy this moment and appreciate all that has happened in the past three weeks,” McIntosh said.
McIntosh said “the real celebrations will really start” now that she’s home with friends and family, but she would return to Paris should she be asked to carry the flag for Canada at the closing ceremonies on Aug. 11.
“If I were to get the opportunity, of course I would go back,” she said. “That’s once in a lifetime.”
