Canadian Relay Stalwart Rebecca Smith Announces Retirement
Canadian relay stalwart Rebecca Smith announced her retirement on Wednesday, the 24-year-old calling time on a career that has included 17 international medals.
The native of Red Deer, Alberta, is third on the career list of World Championships medals for Canadian female swimmers, trailing teammate Kylie Masse and fellow recent retiree Maggie Mac Neil.
Smith owns a silver medal from the 400 free relay at the Tokyo Olympics. Her voluminous resume includes eight medals from long-course Worlds (one silver, seven bronze) and nine Short-Course Worlds medals, including three relay golds from the 2021 meet in Abu Dhabi. All but two of her Worlds medals are in relays, with Smith having won silver in the women’s 200 free at the 2021 and 2022 Short-Course Championships. The 15 relays medals ties Penny Oleksiak for the most relay medals for Canada at Worlds all-time.
“Becs is one of the most outstanding teammates and swimmers I know. We’ve raced against each other since we were kids, and she was always someone I looked up to,” Mac Neil said in a Swimming Canada press release. “Especially as we advanced into our careers, I have immense respect for her achieving at the highest level both in the pool and as she got her advanced nursing degree. The nursing profession has gained a good one!”
Smith won five silver medals at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in 2016, including in the 50 free, 100 free and 100 fly. She was part of three medal-winning relays at World Junior Championships, including gold on the 800 free relay with the likes of Kayla Sanchez, Oleksiak and Taylor Ruck, who would usher in Swimming Canada’s current golden generation. Smith won two medals at the Pan Pacific Championships and four over two editions of the Commonwealth Games.
Smith received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Calgary, becoming a registered nurse between two Olympic appearances.
She began swimming at Catalina Swim Club in Red Deer at age 7. When she was 16, the moved cross-country to join the High Performance Centre in Ontario, swimming with 2016 Olympics like Oleksiak, Ruck, Sandrine Mainville and Chantal van Landeghem. Her first worlds came 2017, what she calls “a pivotal moment” to prove she could compete at that level. It set the stage for the 2018 Commonwealth Games silver.
“I did that alongside Kayla, Taylor and Penny,” Smith said. “I think that one always sticks in my mind as being super special because we were training together nine times a week and doing weights three times a week. Being on that podium together was awesome and obviously the Australian crowd (in Gold Coast) was something else. That’s something I’ll never forget.”
“Rebecca has been a valued and respected member of the Swimming Canada program and national team, progressing through the junior team and to the Olympic Games and achieving great success,” High Performance Director and National Coach John Atkinson said. “Combining her studies with her swimming in Canada shows what can be achieved and now we all wish Rebecca great success as she moves on from her swimming career.”
Smith is jumping into her next career straightaway, having started a job in the neonatal intensive care unit at Rockyview General Hospital in Calgary.
“It’s focusing on yourself but being aware that your teammates also have an effect on your performance as well,” Smith said. “Someone might have an individual race that didn’t go well but we might have a relay that same evening. I think it’s just kind of being respectful of their race but also pumping them up to get excited for the next race. Help them move forward and have those encouraging words for your teammates when they need them. I think that really makes all the difference.”