Londoner and Olympic champion Maggie Mac Neil has been named Best Female Athlete of Tokyo 2020 by the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC).
Mac Neil, who competed at her first Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer, won gold in the 100m butterfly, silver with the 4x100m freestyle relay team and bronze with the 4x100m medley relay team.
“It’s such a great honour to receive this award,” said Mac Neil. “There are so many amazing athletes who competed in the (Olympics). With all we’ve been through the last year and a half, this makes it even more special.”
The 21-year-old swam the second leg of the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay, which earned Canada its first medal of Tokyo 2020.
Mac Neil then captured Canada’s first gold at Tokyo 2020 when she won the 100m butterfly. Her time of 55.59 seconds set an Americas region record.
“When Maggie won her gold medal on Day 3 of the Games, it blew the lid off of our team’s simmering pot,” said Marnie McBean, Team Canada’s Tokyo 2020 Chef de Mission. “To perform at that level having spent a significant amount of time training in her backyard pool … confirmed to the rest of the team that unique, less than ideal, training programs could result in world-class results.”
The Association of National Olympic Committees is an umbrella organization that represents the collective interests of the world’s 206 National Olympic Committees.
The ANOC Awards were first presented in 2014, and are now presented after every Olympics. They recognize outstanding athletic achievements from the most recent Olympic Games.