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>> Kylie Masse, Sydney Pickrem, Maggie MacNeil and Penny Oleksiak
By Any Measure, a Historically Successful Olympics for Swimming Canada BY MATTHEW DE GEORGE
J
ohn Atkinson toggles between the long- and short-term perspectives.
that I’ll split that up today is we’re equal fourth on the medal table with six total medals.”
Three months ago, Atkinson and Swimming Canada were struggling with how to stage Olympic Trials as a pernicious wave of COVID-19 cases washed over the country. Already out of the water for the longest stretch of any of the leading nations, the path to Tokyo seemed obstructed anew. As much as Atkinson’s job was to not dim optimism, particularly around a women’s program tipped for big things, it was hard at times to prevent doubt seeping in.
Such a haul can be taken for granted from the external view, given the preponderance of college stars and World Championships medalists Canada has raised through the years. But winning just three combined medals in 2012 and 2008, on the heels of being shut out in Athens in 2004, six medals – one goal, three silver, two bronze – is a historically massive return. (And Atkinson would add four fourth-place finishes in Canadian record times, which he’s just as pleased about.)
But Atkinson weighed those concerns against what he felt when he took over as the high performance director in March 2013. Then, Canada had won just two medals at the most recent Games in 2012. One of the medalists, Brent Hayden, had retired before London’s closing ceremonies. The last Canadian women’s swimming medal was collecting dust, already 17 years old. Atkinson inherited a grand total of eight Canadians in the top eight of their events worldwide. Through either lens, from the immediate obstacles of 2020 to the decade-long rebuild of the program, Swimming Canada’s achievements at the Olympics were nothing short of a rousing success.
There are so many reasons for Swimming Canada to be pleased with those results. The COVID-19 conditions in the country are one, for sure. But even once the pared-down Trials were conducted in June, surprises still cropped up. Taylor Ruck went from holding Canadian records in the 50 and 200 free to failing to qualify for the Games in either, her freestyle form evidently abandoning here. She didn’t factor into the medals save for two prelims relay swims. Sydney Pickrem, an anticipated medal threat in three individual events, had to pull back due to an illness upon arrival in Japan, swimming instead just one individual event and a gutsy medley relay leg for bronze.
“You want to see things progress annually and from year to year,” Atkinson said Sunday from the mixed zone at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. “The strategic plan of Swimming Canada when I started was to be a top-six swimming nation. And you can split that up whichever way you want. The way
It speaks to the group’s adaptability. As Atkinson puts it, any collection of 26 individuals will face unforeseen adversity on an international trip, pandemic or not. The mystery isn’t if something will go wrong but what that something is. And then the challenge shifts to how you choose to cope with it.
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