PARIS — The next time Summer McIntosh dips into the water this month it will be under delightfully more serene circumstances than the cacophony of a nine-day, 13-race, four Olympic medal meet she just spectacularly completed.
And no, she won’t be swimming fast — if at all.
With those medals in hand — three gold, one silver, all of them brilliant — the next stop for the 17-year-old is a trip to the family cottage on Lake Muskoka north of Toronto.
“I think her favourite place is our cottage up north, she’s just so excited to go there,” McIntosh’s over-the-moon mom Jill said on Monday at Canada House, where Summer was making the rounds and showing off the bling. “She loves outdoors. She loves water skiing. She doesn’t do any swimming up there — she might do a cannon ball off the dock and that’s it.”
Good on her for that: Canada’s Summer still having a summer in Canada.
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She certainly has earned the celebration after an historic Games, winning half of Canada’s medals in the pool, the most since collecting 10 at the Los Angeles Games in 1984.
The honour roll is exhilarating: The three golds are the most by a Canadian athlete at one Games and she set Olympic (and world junior) records in the 200-metre butterfly and 200-metre medley.
Better yet, there is the prevailing sense from swimming experts that she’s just getting started.
“I’m always striving for more,” McIntosh said. “I always want more. That’s what keeps me in the sport. My job’s not finished. I have so much more I want to accomplish. I’m only 17. I have many more years in the sport for however long I want to go. It just keeps me motivated every single day.”
Her biggest complaint on Monday? Her neck was “a little sore” from having those four medals around her neck for her various appearances.
About the 17-year-old bit. She turns 18 on August 18 and that’s when the celebrations will really begin in the idyllic cottage setting she loves so much. There will be a couple of parties this summer — with the possibility of a, shall we say, ceremonial return to Paris in between.
It’s in Muskoka that McIntosh truly likes to be herself — so much so that her parents Jill and Greg give her the “slow key for the Sea-doo.
“She just goes,” Jill said. “She drives it like she swims. It’s a little scary. Summer is a free spirit. Don’t be fooled by her focus. She’s very good at switching gears. As soon as she gets home it’s going to be full-on teenager — having fun, jumping off the dock, going water skiing.
“She likes the social aspect. To keep her going, she has to have fun, absolutely.”
She also is a beast in the pool, with an ability to extract every bit of energy in he athletically powerful frame.
“I think that is a little bit of her secret weapon — her pain tolerance,” Jill said of Summer’s ability to push her body to its absolute limits. Then she tells the story of a cross-country race when she was in Grade 1 and cried afterwards, even though she won to a great margin.
“I think she just freaked her body out. Her ability to push her body is exceptional.”
As for Summer, who had a phone call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to add to her itinerary on Monday, she said that perspective has yet to set in from the whirlwind performances.
“Obviously I’m very ecstatic with my results here in Paris but no I don’t think it’s sunk in at all,” McIntosh said. “I’m pretty sleep-deprived and tired. It’s been great, but it will definitely take me a while to realize what we’ve done. It will sink in more once I go back.
“Once I get back to Canada, I’ll definitely do some shopping. The main thing is any quality time I have with my friends and family up north at my cottage or at my home and cherish these moments with them.”
With no more races to prepare for, McIntosh let some of that teenage personality her mother spoke of show on Monday. But she was also reflective of some of the moments from the Games. And she offered a window into what made her thrive under the immense expectation to deliver.
“There’s always going to be pressure in any sport — it’s just a part of life,” McIntosh said. “No matter what you do you’ll have pressure in some form. For me, the only thing I really think about is what my goals and expectations are for myself and I know what those are based on my training and preparation.”
Perspective is left for others, but the impression that McIntosh left here runs deep. Athletes and coaches from other countries are well aware of her place on the global stage.
“It’s new territory (for a Canadian Olympian),” Swimming Canada high performance director and national coach John Atkinson said. “You’re talking Katie Ledecky, Michael Phelps, (Leon) Spitz, Leon Marchand and Summer McIntosh. She lives in that category now.”
Her mother says “humble is big” in the McIntosh family, a point Summer showed at the mere mention of such company.
“To even be named in the same sentence as those people is absolutely unreal,” McIntosh said. “I don’t think I should be. I still have a lot more I have to do to even be considered. All of these people have inspired me to where I am today. especially Michael Phelps.”