Tune in for the most recent episode of the Sporting Change Podcast as we welcome Canadian swimming icon: Maggie Mac Neil. After announcing her retirment from swimming and Team Canada this past fall, Maggie joins the podcast to discuss her swim career, lessons she learned along the way, and retirment decision.
Maggie Mac Neil is one of the most accomplished athletes in the swimming world. A native of London, Ontario, Maggie made a name for herself at the 202 Tokyo Olympics where she captured the gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly; cementing her place as the fastest woman in the world in that event. To date Maggie has pulled-off practically everything there is to achieve in elite swimming:
- 3 x Olympic medalist (2 x Olympian)
- World record holder in both the 50-meter backstroke and 100-meter butterfly
- 2 x World Champion
- 5 x Commonwealth Games medalist
- 7 x medalist at the 2023 Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile – 5 of them gold which is a Canadian record for most gold medals won at a single Pan Am Games.
Off the blocks Maggie is just as impressive. She received her degree in psychology from the University of Michigan where she also swam and set 8 school records before transferring to LSU where she completed her Masters in Kinesiology while preparing for the 2024 Olympics.
Maggie is a strong advocate for mental health awareness and has been very open about the struggles she has had to tackle while facing the immense pressures that came with her success. Tune in for this amazing episode (Listen Here).