By Steve Keating
PARIS (Reuters) – Summer McIntosh’s rampaging win in the women’s 400 metres individual medley (IM) at the Paris Olympics on Monday could not have come at a better time for a beleaguered Canadian team sinking under the weight of a soccer spying scandal.
World record holder McIntosh left a quality field in her wake getting to the wall first almost six seconds clear of chasing Americans Katie Grimes and Emma Weyant in a display of utter domination that was cheered by a capacity crowd at the La Defense pool and no doubt lifted Canadian hearts back home.
It was the type of swim that might be remembered as one of Canada’s great Olympic moments, and it might also take something that special to polish the country’s tarnished sporting image.
Canadians have been desperate for a sporting hero or heroine to emerge from the dark cloud cast by a drone spying scandal engulfing the women’s soccer team that has seen coaches banned and the Olympic champions’ medal hopes hanging by a thread after having six points deducted.
It was 17-year-old McIntosh coming to the rescue on Monday with a performance she hoped made her team proud and provided some inspiration for kids back home.
“Obviously these moments only come around every four years so I’m just trying to make Team Canada proud and kind of set the tone for us tonight,” said McIntosh. “I just hope that anyone watching back home, I try to inspire as many young kids as possible.
“I hope that they know that if I can do it, they can do it too.
“I was once in their shoes watching the Rio Olympics and now I’m here eight years later, so I hope to inspire them as much as possible.”
After days of Canada being bombarded by headlines branding them as cheats, McIntosh’s stellar work in the pool will pry some of the attention away from the scandal and the teen could yet do enough to be the story of the Games for Canada.
Her triumph comes two days after she took silver behind Australian powerhouse Ariarne Titmus in the 400m freestyle on the meet’s opening day, and with two more individual events (200m IM and 200m butterfly) and relays she could leave Paris as one of Canada’s most decorated Olympians.
“Pretty surreal, I was very happy to get the job done tonight as that was a goal of mine to be able to stand on top of the podium and get the gold medal,” said McIntosh. “It’s always just about having fun along with pushing my body to its limit.
“Every single time I get to race on the world stage I’ve learned more and more about handling mentally and physically and emotionally and trying not to get too high or too low.
“I’m super happy with the result, but now I’m all about the 200m fly.”
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Paris; Additional reporting Rohith Nair; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Comments