Maggie Mac Neil of London, Ontario has been named the top female athlete of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo according to Rogers Sportsnet. Mac Neil won three medals for Canada at the Olympic Games. She won gold in the women’s 100 metre butterfly, silver in the women’s 4×100 metre freestyle relay (alongside Kayla Sanchez of Scarborough, Ontario, Taylor Ruck of Kelowna, British Columbia, Penny Oleksiak of Toronto, Ontario, and Rebecca Smith of Red Deer, Alberta), and bronze in the women’s 4×100 metre medley relay (alongside Sanchez, Oleksiak, Ruck, Kylie Masse of Windsor, Ontario, and Sydney Pickrem of Halifax, Nova Scotia).
The fact that Mac Neil received the honour actually could be considered quite surprising. That is because Australian swimmer Emma McKeon won seven medals (four gold medals and three bronze medals), while Kaylee McKeown of Australia won three gold medals and one bronze medal for four medals overall. Meanwhile, Yufei Zhang of China and Kathleen Ledecky of the United States and Australian Ariarne Titmus also won four swimming medals each in Tokyo, one more than Mac Neil. You could definitely make the argument that Mac Neil was not among the best five female swimmers at the Olympic Games, yet she was named the best female athlete in all sports by the Association of National Olympic Committees. The Olympic marathon champion, Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya was the best male athlete.
