Swimming prodigy McIntosh heads to Paris

Canadian prodigy Summer McIntosh, expected to be one of the stars of the Paris Olympics, has already made her mark in swimming, and nobody in her family or entourage is surprised.

“We knew even at seven or eight years old that she was going to be an exceptional swimmer... beating 10 and 12-year-old swimmers by a pool length,” her father Greg McIntosh told AFP. “She is a force of nature. She has been since she was a child.”

The 17-year-old swimmer is already a four-time gold medallist at the World Championships -- in the 200m butterfly and 400m medley in 2022 in Budapest and in 2023 in Fukuoka.

And last May, she broke her own world record in the 400-meter medley, just a few weeks before the Olympics.

The McIntosh family’s passion for sport runs deep: their mother Jill saw in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and older sister Brooke shines in pairs figure skating, having earned a bronze medal in 2022 at the world junior championship.

“We’re very competitive. This is really in our blood,” she says with a chuckle, at her side Mikey -- an orange tabby that Summer named for her idol, American Michael Phelps who is the most decorated swimmer of all time.

With two teenagers with high-level sporting careers, the McIntoshes have split the family in two: Summer and Jill live in the United States for pool training, Brooke and Greg in Canada for ice training.

“We have a fairly detailed family calendar that reminds us of everyone’s obligations,” explains the “very proud” father, who is both “excited and nervous” for the Paris Olympics.

The Paris Olympics will be her second Games after those in Tokyo in 2021 where she became the youngest Canadian athlete in the history of the Games, all sports combined. In Paris, all eyes will be on her to dethrone American legend Katie Ledecky, a seven-time Olympic champion seeking an eighth title.