Home with 3 Olympic medals, London's Maggie Mac Neil ready to dive into some ice cream

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind for London, Ont., swimmer Maggie Mac Neil. 

The 21-year-old arrived home Monday night from Tokyo 2020 with three medals, her spoils from what has been an impressive Olympics for Canada's women's swim team. 

Mac Neil won the gold in the women's 100-metre butterfly, silver in the 4x100 freestyle relay and bronze in the 4x100-metre medley relay.

Mac Neil got to drape the bronze medal around the neck of teammate Penny Oleksiak after the medley relay. It was Oleksiak's seventh Olympic medal, the one marking her as Canada's most decorated Olympian. 

Hours after arriving home, Mac Neil spoke to Talish Zafar on CBC Radio's Afternoon Drive.

Q: This was your first Olympic Games. Was it anything like you expected? 

No, I mean it was just so incredible being in the village atmosphere. It was my first time being in the village. But in another sense with all the changes from COVID-19, it felt pretty normal to me. It was my first Games, so I wasn't sure what I was missing out in that sense. So that was good as well.

Q: What were you thinking as you stood on that podium and heard O Canada playing? 

I was just thinking about all my friends and family celebrating back home and how much I wanted to do that for them. I couldn't wait to see them when I got back home.

Q: How does it feel to hold an Olympic medal?

They're very heavy. My sister and I weighed them yesterday and they were 3½ pounds. They have the name of the event written on the side, so that's also really cool.

Q: When you're in the middle of a race, what goes through your mind? 

I focus on my strategy and my technique in the race. I don't usually like to think too much about the outcome because, from personal experience, I find that my swim isn't as good at the end if I'm focusing too much on. 'Oh, I want to get this medal.' By focusing on the process along the way, I can kind of control what I can control. 

Q: Does your approach change after winning that first medal? 

The pressure is definitely off. Once you win one, it's like: 'OK, I can breathe. I have one.' It's like whatever happens, happens and I got to enjoy the experience and enjoy my race. Just take it in the moment.

Q: You shared two of your medals with other swimmers. What was it like being part of that team? 

It was so incredible. Just being there for the very first day of the relay. Rebecca Smith, Kayla Sanchez and I, we all got our first Olympic medals together. That was really, really special. Then on the last day, we were able to help Sydney Pickrem win her first medal. It was an emotional time. It was so incredible to do that with people I've been training with and working hard with for the past four months.

Q: How have you been celebrating these wins now that you're home?

I saw some friends and family, which was really nice. They were waiting for me when I got home. Tonight I'm going to spend more time with my friends, and just catching up on sleep and having some ice cream. It's one of my favourite go-to junk foods. 

Q: Did you get to see much of Tokyo while you were out there? 

No, we unfortunately didn't get to see any of it. On the rides to and from the pool, it was like 15 minutes, so we would kind of see things while we were driving. The village was close to the Tokyo Tower and the Tokyo Sky Tree, so we could see those in the distance, which was cool.