Maggie MacNeil shot to household name status after shocking the world with a gold medal-winning performance at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The 21-year-old made waves across North America after setting an Americas record in the 100m butterfly, while Chinese swimming fans are increasingly fascinated by the Canadian of Chinese birth and heritage who managed to beat their own generational talent Zhang Yufei.
Still a university student, MacNeil managed to better the Canadian women’s relay team’s silver medal-winning performance by clinching the country’s first gold at the postponed Games.
From being adopted by Canadian parents, to having a dream debut at the world championships, to her hilarious reaction to winning Olympic gold, to being given permission by her mother to get a tattoo, here’s what you need to know about Canada’s next swimming superstar.
Biography
Hannah Margaret McNair MacNeil – better known as Maggie in swimming circles – was born on February 26, 2000, in Jiujiang, China. She was reportedly adopted by her Canadian parents in Guanxi after being abandoned at just a few months old. She is a London, Ontario native and started swimming at two years old before joining her first competition aged eight.
MacNeil idolised American five-time Olympic gold medallist Melissa Franklin and said one of her biggest challenges growing up was dealing with her asthma. She played the violin and clarinet in her formative years.
She swam for Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School and the London Aquatic Club before her acceptance at the University of Michigan, where Hong Kong’s own Siobhan Haughey was a teammate. She intends to specialise in law or medicine during her studies.
After an impressive junior stint led to an early senior Canadian team call-up, MacNeil had a dream World Championships debut in Gwangju, South Korea in 2019, when she broke the national and Commonwealth records.
After winning bronze as part of the 4×100 m freestyle relay team , MacNeil struck gold in the women‘s 100m butterfly, beating four-time world and reigning Olympic champion Sarah Sjöström in what was considered a major upset.
She was immediately touted as a potential Olympic star after winning Swimming Canada’s Breakout Swimmer of the Year and the University of Michigan’s Female Athlete of the Year.
It did not take long for MacNeil to reach the sport’s pinnacle. The humble youngster stunned the world when she won gold in the women’s 100m butterfly at the Tokyo Olympics, beating China favourite Zhang for the top podium place by 0.05 of a second, and setting a personal best and Americas record of 55.59 seconds.
She had placed sixth in the 100m butterfly trials at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games five years earlier. In June 2021, she qualified to represent Canada at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. On Sunday, she swam for Canada in the 4×100 m freestyle relay, replacing Ruck for the finals and swimming a 53.47 second split to help her team to the silver – the swimmer’s first Olympic medal.
Tokyo squinting
Aside from going viral in Chinese social media post-Olympic gold medal, videos of MacNeil’s hilarious reaction to placing first also did the rounds.
She was seen squinting at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre results board and took a moment to clock on that she had won the finals. She then exclaimed “Oh my God” after realising, much to the enjoyment of official Olympic commentators.
“I heard my name getting called so I thought I must have done something good, but it wasn’t until I turned around and saw the results that I realised I won,” said MacNeil, who does not wear contact lenses nor prescription goggles. Fellow competitor Sjöström also reportedly congratulated her from the next lane.
love this moment of maggie macneil realising she’s the olympic champion#olympics #can #swimming
pic.twitter.com/tHeC6I2R0T— calum (@f1onfilm) July 26, 2021
It was a stunning achievement for Canada, who have her to thank for their first Tokyo gold medal, while Michigan coaches Mike Bottom, Andrew Craven and Rick Bishop also noted her sheer dedication to training.
Known to be largely unassuming and preferring to stay outside the limelight at university, MacNeil described her training in isolation ahead of Tokyo.
“I’m not feeling as stressed as I should be about the … Olympics. I’m really able to focus on swimming when I’m at the pool and focus on my studies [out of it], and really have the two connected just because I wouldn’t be recognised unless I’m at an event,” she told the Michigan Daily.
Family
Though the official Tokyo Olympic 2020 Games website stated MacNeil was born in London, Ontario, she was reportedly adopted in China by her Canadian parents.
Her adopted parents were very supportive of their daughter’s pursuit but it took time to realise that she could really transition to the senior leagues.
Her mother, Susan McNair, told the Michigan Daily that she would only let MacNeil get a tattoo on one condition: if she qualified for the Olympics, “knowing full well that I would never have a child who got to the Olympics”, she explained. MacNeil went even further, so expect some Olympic-themed ink in future.
MacNeil reportedly has a pre-competition superstition in which she splashes herself 15 times and kicks the backfoot plate three times before getting on the blocks.
