Swimming Canada posed a fine question worthy of the best of sports quizzes and crosswords. As Rebecca Smith announced her retirement from the fast lane, the national federation asked:

 Trivia question: Who has the third most World Aquatics medals of all time for Canada?

And here follows the answer and explanation, from Swimming Canada:

 The answer may not jump to the average swimming fan’s mind immediately. But after eight years on the national team, Rebecca Smith’s total of 17 medals is an impressive testament to her status as one of Canada’s most consistent relay performers.
 
Today, she’s announcing her retirement and the first people on a long list of thank-yous are her teammates.

The Red Deer-Alberta native, who turns 25 next month, said:

“The first thing I think about is, I couldn’t have done that without my teammates and everyone I train with. 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.”

Among those teammates are superstars Kylie Masse and Maggie Mac Neil, Canada’s all-time leaders with 20 and 19 medals. Right behind them is Smith. If Canada won a relay medal between 2017 and 2024, there’s a good chance you’d find “Smith R.” listed in the results.
 
Smith was a member of the 4×100-m freestyle relay team that took silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. And with 15 of her 17 World Aquatics medals coming in relays, Smith is tied with Penny Oleksiak for most relay medals of all-time for Canada at world championships.
 
While she worked alongside those household names to quietly cement her status as one of Canada’s all-time great national team members, she also worked on a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree at the University of Calgary, becoming a registered nurse in between two Olympic Games.

Mac Neil, who announced her own retirement last fall, said:

“ ‘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. 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!”

It all started when a seven-year-old Smith joined the Catalina Swim Club out of a six-lane 25-metre pool in Red Deer.
 
“To see that progression and the decisions I made to reach my goal of making the national team one day, it’s crazy to think about. It’s exciting to see all the sacrifices I made along the way were worth it and I don’t regret any of it,” Smith says.
 
Her first big move was commuting multiple times a week to Calgary, where she spent a few months training for the 2016 Junior Pan Pacific Championships with Dave Johnson at Cascade Swim Club. Smith earned five silver medals there: three individual and teaming with the likes of Mac Neil, Kelsey Wog and Mary-Sophie Harvey for two more on relays.
 
That fall came her biggest leap, moving 3,500 kilometres east at age 16 to join the High Performance Centre – Ontario in Toronto.
 
“Making that move was a huge decision,” Smith says. “Everyone thought I was crazy driving on the 401 at 16.”
 
In Toronto Smith found herself swimming alongside Oleksiak and fellow relay medallists Chantal Van Landeghem, Sandrine Mainville and Taylor Ruck, fresh off their breakthrough performances at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Says Smith:

“I immediately loved it. It was really intense training but I’m so glad I made that decision to train with the best in the country."

A brand new city meant adjusting to a new school, new teachers and new friends.

“I was starting everything new in a new city. It was difficult to say the least but I think as time went on it got better,” says Smith, who is thankful to her billet family, the Watsons, and her faith community for helping her settle in to Toronto.
 
Smith made the national team and represented Canada at her first World Aquatics Championships in 2017. She swam the butterfly leg of the 4x100-m mixed medley relay in the morning heat, allowing Oleksiak to rest for the final, where Canada earned bronze.
 
“That was a pivotal moment for me in realizing I had the capability of being on the senior national team and progressing,” Smith says.

In addition to that first medal and the Olympic silver, Smith lists the 2018 Commonwealth Games silver in the 4x200m freestyle relay as another career highlight:

“I did that alongside (HPC-Ontario teammates) Kayla (Sanchez), Taylor and Penny. 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.”

Smith had individual success as well, but almost has to be reminded of that when asked to list her highlights. At the world short-course championships in Abu Dhabi in 2021, she broke the Canadian record to take silver in the 200-m freestyle.

Smith, who contributed to three relay golds in Abu Dhabi, said:  

“That was my first major individual medal on the senior level. To do that after just starting nursing school and coming off the Games was a really exciting time and something I’ll always remember for sure. Every woman came back with a medal which was just amazing.”

Smith swam the exact same time (1:52.24) to repeat the feat at the 2022 edition of the championships in Melbourne, where she was part of another four relay medals. She added to her medal total with two more relay bronzes at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, before representing Canada at her second Olympic Games last summer in Paris.  

High Performance Director and National Coach John Atkinson said:

“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. 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’s thank-you list also includes past coaches Mandi Smith, Ben Titley, Byron MacDonald, Linda Kiefer and Mike Blondal, as well as Johnson, who coached her for her final year in the sport. She also thanks her older sister Madalyn and brother Steven, and says her parents Scott and Sandi have been her “No. 1 supporters.”
 
Smith began a new full-time role on the neonatal intensive care unit at Calgary’s Rockyview General Hospital Monday. She believes the teamwork skills she developed as a swimmer will continue to serve her well in nursing.
 
“It’s focusing on yourself but being aware that your teammates also have an effect on your performance as well,” Smith says.

“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.”

(A new adventure ahoy. Fare well, Rebecca Smith).