Olympic medal proves the future is suddenly now for Canadian swimming
Teens Oleksiak and Ruck prove they can swim with the sharks
By Scott Russell, CBC Sports
What goes on at the swimming pool might turn out to be a lot of fun at these Olympics.
It's like a circus at the aquatics stadium…or a carnival maybe. Under the tent-like top of the warm-up pool, quarters are tight and the hundreds upon hundreds of swimmers prowl around while staking out what limited territory there is.
They've got their nation's flags draped over every inch of wall space and there is constant movement. They swim endless laps while massage tables and their busy therapists occupy prime real estate in the middle of the deck.
The notorious and legendary Michael Phelps ambles in, trying his best to be both intimidating and incognito while steadfastly avoiding any form of eye contact. But no one pays the senior statesman of swimming too much mind. To them, he's just another competitor and besides – they're too busy creating the next wave to become lambs to the slaughter.
It's all a bit gladiatorial. Swim with the sharks or be devoured.
The arena itself is unlike any forum for swimming I've seen at the Olympics. The grandstand rises steeply from the water's edge, and in the absence of an adjacent diving facility, it looks more like a hockey arena with 15,000 fans hovering over the racers.
At the Olympics, anything can happen
"I seriously don't know what to tell you to expect," said the exuberant Ben Titley, head coach of the Canadian team. "Eighty per cent of them have never been to the Olympics before and on the heat charts none of our swimmers are ranked in the top three in the world. But hey, at the Olympics, anything might happen."
Titley's words were borne out on a wild first day for a couple of teenagers who conjured up some magic and helped produce the first medal in Canadian women's swimming since Marianne Limpert won silver in the 200 individual medley two decades ago in Atlanta.
Along with Sandrine Mainville, Chantal Van Landeghem, and Michelle Williams, themselves Olympic rookies, 16-year-olds Taylor Ruck and Penny Oleksiak powered Canada to a bronze medal finish in the women's 4x100 metre relay. It is the first Canadian medal in that discipline since the home Games held in Montreal in 1976.
The key to it was gambling on youthful potential.
"You don't get anywhere unless you're willing to take risks," Titley reckoned. So he held Oleksiak out of the qualifying heat for the relay and she promptly drove to the 100 metre butterfly final lowering her Canadian record and erasing a world junior record along the way.
Then he brought her back for the relay final and left the younger Ruck in the race as well as the senior swimmer in the group Williams gave way.
The two teenagers, likely the first Canadian Olympic medallists born in this millennium, swam the final two legs and staged a ferocious finish which fell shy of the powerful Australians and Americans but steadfastly held off the charging and more experienced Dutch.
Nothing to lose, everything to gain
Presto and the future is suddenly now for Canadian swimming.
A big group of athletes hooted and hollered in the village and Olympic champion Mark Tewksbury danced a jig in our TV studios as he watched the next generation of Canadian swimming announce its arrival.
It was actually quite astonishing to take it all in because there was nothing pre-determined about it. Perhaps there were warnings that this might be possible four years down the road in Tokyo when these talented young swimmers matured and honed their competitive skills.
Then again brash optimism apparently still has a place in sport
"They all come from different places and are at different stages in their lives," Titley had shrugged when asked to predict the outcome. "So who really knows?"
In the end it came down to young people at the Olympics with nothing to lose and everything to gain by racing their hearts out.
I think it's called the wide-eyed wonder of wanting to win.