Canadian Olympic gold medalist Maggie Mac Neil of London, Ont., retired Thursday at the age of 24. Mac Neil is best known for winning a gold medal in the women’s 100 meter butterfly at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Mac Neil’s main reason for resigning is that she wants to focus on her education. Mac Neil already has a degree in sports management from Louisiana State University and plans to get her law degree. In addition to attending LSU, Mac Neil began her college career at the University of Michigan.
In total, Mac Neil won three Olympic medals. At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, she also won silver in the women’s 4×100 meter freestyle and bronze in the women’s 4×100 meter individual medley.
Mac Neil also won eight medals at the World Swimming Championships. She won one gold medal, three silver medals and four bronze medals. She won the gold medal in the women’s 100-meter butterfly in 2019 in Gwangju, South Korea.
Mac Neil also made Canadian sports history at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. She set the record for most gold medals by a Canadian woman at a single Pan American Games with five. Mac Neil’s gold medals came in the women’s 50-meter freestyle, the women’s 100-meter butterfly, the women’s 100-meter freestyle, the women’s 4×100-meter freestyle and the women’s 4×100-meter positions of women. Mac Neil broke the record of four previously set by gymnast Ernestine Russell of London, Ontario at the 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago, table tennis player Lijuan Geng of Ottawa, Ontario at the 1995 Pan American Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina, and the swimmer were set up by Jessica Deglau from Vancouver, British Columbia, at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg.
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