Canadian women's swim team full of promise, swagger

By Callum Ng, CBC Sports

There's an intriguing mix of youth and potential among the 20 women on Canada's Olympic swimming roster, not to mention they double the 10 on the men's team.

And while the only returning medallists are on the men's side with distance swimmer Ryan Cochrane and open water specialist Richard Weinberger; the "big suits" are earning the most attention.

There's a pair of lanky 16-year-old rising stars, Taylor Ruck and Penny Oleksiak, the latter nicknamed "the child" by her Ontario training partners.

At six-foot-one (on last check), the muscular Oleksiak stands out. In the pool, she is fearless and fast. The Toronto swimmer holds the Canadian records in the 50 and 100-metre butterfly, and the 100 freestyle.

"She has gifts, she has talent. She's amazingly competitive," said her coach Ben Titley. "She's very fortunate to have these things and hopefully, with people like myself or her teammates guiding her to make the right decisions, we'll see her over the years become one of Canada's best athletes in any sports. I truly believe that."

What makes Oleksiak so good is her explosive closing speed, an attribute that was on full display when she blew past Noemie Thomas and Katerine Savard on the final lap of the 100 butterfly at the Canadian trials in April. She used the same power to dominate the 100 freestyle.

CBC Sports swimming analyst Byron MacDonald believes Oleksiak is ready for prime time at the Rio Olympics, and the lynchpin of the 4x100 freestyle relay, which has an outside shot at a medal.  

"If you want your relays to go you need a big star. And now we've got one, we've got Penny," said MacDonald, adding another top time will have to emerge from one of the other sprinters; Sandrine Mainville (Boucherville, Que.) Chantal Van Landeghem (Winnipeg), Michelle Williams (Toronto), or perhaps Ruck, who lives in Arizona but was born in Kelowna, B.C.

Mainville, Oleksiak, Van Landeghem, and Williams are all coached by Olympic head coach Titley, who will coach his fourth Olympics after working with Great Britain for the past three.

"If they can swim to their maximum on that day in Rio on day one of the swimming we will be in the hunt for medals," said Titley. "But we'll have to break the national record [three minutes 36.44 seconds] by at least two seconds to be in that conversation."

The Canadian sprint freestyle relay will contend with the elite Australian and Dutch women, plus the always tough American and Chinese teams.

Building medal potential

Oleksiak is one of four women, including Ruck, Emily Overholt and Sydney Pickrem, under 20 who elicit the word "potential" from experts like MacDonald, and she's enjoying the ride.

"It's so fun especially because every one of them is such great athletes so it's just going to be so amazing in a few years. Even now."

For now, an individual medal from this group would be a surprise, but potential floats in a few places beyond Oleksiak and Ruck.

West Vancouver's Overholt, 18, won a bronze in the 400 individual medley at 2015 world championships, although she hasn't been close to her Canadian record since. Worlds medals are commonly considered a prerequisite for the Olympic podium.

Pickrem, a 19-year-old who lives in Oldsmar, Fla., beat Overholt in the 400 IM at the Canadian Olympic swim trials. She will also swim the 200 IM in Rio.

20-year drought

There's also the rare veteran amongst that swathe of youth and promise as 32-year-old butterflyer Audrey Lacroix is preparing for her third Olympics.

Lacroix was 12 the last time a Canadian woman won an Olympic swimming medal, a silver earned by Marianne Limpert in the 200 IM at the Atlanta Summer Games in 1996.

That 20-year spectre has hovered around the Canadian women since the team was named in April, because the drought spans three decades.

"We're getting closer and closer to potentially breaking that streak," said Van Landeghem. "I think we could see a couple medals honestly from this women's team. We're young and we're excited and there's so much fire and spunk on this team and I'm really excited to see what we can lay down in Rio," she said.