Airport security thrown off by Summer McIntosh's Olympic medal haul on way home to Toronto
Over the last few weeks, Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh has elevated her status from an up-and-coming athlete to a true Olympic legend.
Picking up four medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics, the 17-year-old returned to Toronto on Tuesday after an electric performance at her second Olympic Games. Turning 18 on August 18, McIntosh is taking some time away from the pool to have a typical teenage summer.
“The next few weeks, I’ll just be kind of taking some time off swimming and relaxing, but then just back into training and keep pushing forward for 2028,” per CBC News. “I’m actually heading up to my cottage tomorrow with a bunch of my friends, and I’m really excited. And then I’ll kind of come back to the city for a little bit, maybe do some shopping, and then I’ll head back up again for around the time that my birthday is.”
McIntosh won three gold medals: the 200m and 400m individual medley and the 200m butterfly. To top things off, she also finished with a silver medal in the 400m freestyle, one of the deepest races in the Games.
However, despite being a household name in Canada, she had a little bit more trouble navigating around France, and there was a minor holdup on her way home.
“It was actually funny. Going through security, they were like, ‘What are these round, like, metal things?’ And I was like, ‘They’re Olympic medals.’ And they’re like, ‘How many do you have’? And I was like, ‘four’. And they’re like, ‘Okay, you’re good,'” McIntosh said with a laugh.
The moment brought up some memories of Canadian Olympian Kelsey Mitchell, who pranked Japanese airport security with her gold medal in 2021 after winning a women’s cycling title in Tokyo.
McIntosh has been tabbed as a leading candidate to be Canada’s flagbearer for the closing ceremony on Sunday. She said she’d be open to returning to France if needed.
“That’s such an honour to hold the flag for Canada. I mean, that hasn’t come out yet or anything like that, but if that were the case, I would definitely go back,” she said.