By Canadian Press

Olympic and world championship medallist Rebecca Smith retires from swimming

Feb 26, 2025 | 12:04 PM

OTTAWA — Rebecca Smith, who helped Canada to a silver medal in the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, announced her retirement from competitive swimming Wednesday.

Smith, from Red Deer, Alta., teamed with Maggie Mac Neil, Penny Oleksiak and Kayla Sanchez to finish the event in three minutes 32.78 seconds, ahead of the United States and behind Australia’s world-record time of 3:29.69.

The 24-year-old won nine career world championship short-course medals, including four at the 2021 event in Abu Dhabi.

She helped Canada to three relay gold before winning individual silver in the 200-metre freestyle.

Smith was also part of eight Canadian relay medals (one silver, seven bronze) over five long-course world championships.

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She won three relay medals (one silver, two bronze) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, and another relay silver at the 2018 Games in Gold Coast, Australia.

Smith plans to focus on nursing and recently began a new full-time role in the neonatal intensive care unit at Calgary’s Rockyview General Hospital.

Smith thanked her teammates over the years for her decorated career.

“The first thing I think about is, I couldn’t have done that without my teammates and everyone I train with,” she said in a release. “I owe that to them as well because they’re the ones that helped me get to that point, they’re the ones pushing me in practice to be better.

“I feel like as a team, that we have all those medals is pretty cool.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 26, 2025.

The Canadian Press