Canadian Olympian Retires from Swimming

Decorated Olympian Mac Neil with her numerous medals

Today multi Olympic medal swimmer Maggie Mac Neil announced her retirement from the sport at the age of 24 to pursue a law degree (in addition to her masters degree in sports management at Louisiana State University).

On her social media post she wrote in part: "Anyone who I crossed paths with never, ever told me I couldn't achieve my goal of going to the Olympics. It's still surreal to be able to say I'm a 2xOlympian."

Butterfly is Mac Neil's signature stroke

Mac Neil originally thought she would hang up her goggles after the Tokyo Games in 2021, but felt she wanted to accomplish more in the pool and extended her career to include the Paris Olympics this summer.

"I know I'm not going another quad [four-year Olympic cycle]. I've never wanted to [compete] to 2028," she said last February. "I've accomplished more than I ever wanted in swimming and by doing that, I would be happy if I retired now."

She was named best female athlete of the Tokyo Games after winning her best event, the women's 100-metre butterfly, and a silver in the 4x100 freestyle relay and bronze in the 4x100 medley relay.

In Tokyo, she finished fifth in the 100-metre butterfly, and finished fourth in the 4x100 freestyle relay that included swimming sensation Summer McIntosh. Mac Neil was also fourth in the women's medley relay, fifth in the mixed medley relay and 16th in the women's 100-metre freestyle.

With her adoptive parents in London, Ontario

From London, Ontario, Mac Neil was born in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province and was adopted by the Mac Neil family when she was one years old. Interestingly it was the 2008 Beijing Olympics when the then eight-year-old Mac Neil decided to take competitive swimming seriously.

Also in her social media post, Mac Neil wrote: "I'm excited to begin the next chapter of my life journey, as I embark on discovering who I am outside of swimming."

She's made Canada proud and we're excited to see what she does next.