Margaret MAC NEIL

Margaret "Maggie" Mac Neil was born in the People's Republic of China in 2000, and was adopted by her Canadian family a year later.

Her breakout year came in 2019, where she caused a seismic upset to win women's 100m butterfly gold at the World Championships in Gwangju, beating the World and reigning Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom and Emma McKeon. Mac Neil also helped Canada land a silver and to bronze relay medals.

At the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, in 2021, Mac Neil was crowned 100m butterfly Olympic champion. It was a particularly memorable image after her race, as Mac Neil wasn't wearing her contact lenses and couldn't see that she had won the race. She then helped the Canadian women's 4x100m freestyle relay team land silver, and the 4x100m medley team win bronze.

She finished 2021 with a new World Record in the 50m backstroke at the short course world championships in Abu Dhabi.

Mac Neil rounded out 2022 in style by beating Emma McKeown to 100m butterfly gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, before breaking her own short course 50m backstroke World Record en route to gold at the world championships in Melbourne.