Taylor Madison Ruck (born May 28, 2000) is a Canadian competitive

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

. She won two Olympic bronze medals as part of Canada's women's 4×100 metre and 4×200 metre freestyle relay teams at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. Ruck won eight medals at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

, Australia. Her eight medal performance of one gold, five silver, and two bronze tied her with three other athletes for the most all-time at a single Commonwealth Games, as well as making her the most decorated Canadian female athlete ever at a single Commonwealth Games. Ruck is the all-time leading medallist at the

FINA World Junior Swimming Championships The FINA World Junior Swimming Championships (or "Junior Worlds") is a swimming championship event organized by FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as Worl ...

having won nine gold, two silver, and two bronze over the course of the

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and 2017 editions.

Career

Ruck won the gold medal in the 100 meter freestyle at the 2015 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships in Singapore, breaking the Championships record in both the heats and the final. She also won the 200 meter freestyle, again in a championship record. She would add a bronze medal in the 200 backstroke, as well as three relay a medals a gold in the mixed 4×100 m free, silver in the 4×200 m free, and a bronze in the women's 4×100 m freestyle event.

2016 Summer Olympics

Ruck was suffering from

bronchitis Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. ...

during the trials for Canada's Olympic team and did not initially qualify, but officials took her illness into account and named her to the team for the

. There, as a sixteen year old Olympian, she swam the last leg in the heats and the second last leg of the finals in the women's 4×100 m relay final for Canada. Ruck competed with

Penny Oleksiak Penelope Oleksiak (born June 13, 2000) is a Canadian competitive swimmer. Her country's most decorated Olympian, Oleksiak rose to fame during the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she became the first Canadian to win four medals in the same Summer Gam ...

, Chantal van Landeghem,

Sandrine Mainville Sandrine Mainville (born March 20, 1992) is a Canadian competition swimmer who specializes in the freestyle. She won a bronze medal in the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in the 4 x 100 m mixed freestyle in Kazan, Russia. Mainville was also ...

, and Michelle Williams and swam to a bronze medal, behind

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. After the win Ruck said of "I’m definitely not one to cry easily but I was about to...I feel 110 per cent Canadian now!" The medal was the first Canadian women's freestyle relay medal at the Olympics in 40 years. She became the first athlete born in the 2000s to win an Olympic medal along with fellow Canadian swimmer and relay partner

. Ruck then won her second bronze medal as a part of the 4×200 metres freestyle relay team. She swam in second spot in the heats alongside

Katerine Savard Katerine Savard (born May 26, 1993) is a Canadian competitive swimmer who specializes in women's butterfly events and freestyle relay. She holds several Canadian national records in the butterfly over the 50-, 100-, and 200-metre distances in b ...

Emily Overholt Emily Overholt (born October 4, 1997) is a Canadian former competitive swimmer. She has won bronze medals at the Olympic Games and FINA World Aquatics Championships, as well as a silver at the Commonwealth Games and three Pan American Games meda ...

and Kennedy Goss, and second again in the final event, with

Brittany MacLean Brittany MacLean (born March 3, 1994) is a Canadian retired competitive swimmer who has represented her country in the Summer Olympics and other international championships. She won a bronze medal in the women's 4 x 200 m freestyle relay at ...

and Oleksiak replacing Overholt and Goss. She last competed in the 4×100 metres medley, swimming the anchor leg in the trials before being replaced for the finals, where the Canadian team placed fifth. To end the 2016 season, Ruck and her teammates won a gold medal in the FINA short-course world swimming championships 4 × 200 m freestyle relay. Ruck, swimming the second leg, posted the fastest split time of the final with a 1:51.69. She also won a bronze medal in the individual 200 m freestyle. For the 2017 season, Ruck relocated back to Canada to train at the High Performance Centre –

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

led by Ben Titley. There she began training with teammates Oleksiak, Toro, Van Landegham, Rebecca Smith,

Kayla Sanchez Kayla Noelle Sanchez (born 7 April 2001) is a Filipina-Canadian swimmer. A member of the Canadian national team until 2022, she has represented Canada at the Olympic and World championship level, and is a two-time Olympic medalist. She is one ...

, and

Richard Funk Richard Funk (born November 22, 1992, in Edmonton, Alberta) is a Canadian breaststroke swimmer. Funk was a triple medallist at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto. In April 2017, Funk was named to Canada's 2017 World Aquatics Championships ...

2017 season

Following her Olympic success in 2016, Ruck swam in the Canadian trials to compete at the

2017 World Aquatics Championships The 17th FINA World Championships ( hu, 2017-es úszó-világbajnokság) were held in Budapest, Hungary from 14 to 30 July 2017.

. There she was unable to place higher than fourth in any of the events, meaning she failed to qualify for the Canadian team in any of the events and missed worlds. Ruck was part of the gold medal 4 × 200 m freestyle 2017 World Junior Swimming Championships team in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

. In the process the team broke the junior world record and championship record. Ruck would add gold medals and world junior records in both the 4×100 m relay and the 4×100 m medley. She set the world junior record in the girl's 100 m backstroke semis, but would lose the record and the gold medal to Regan Smith while winning the silver medal in the event. While swimming in the 200 m freestyle event, she lowered the championship record twice when she set a 1:57.08. Ruck also set a 100 m championship record while leading off the 4×100 m relay when she swam to a 53.63.

2018 season

Ruck competed as part of

Canada's Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by total ...

team in her buildup to the 2020 Summer Olympics. The first day of competition in the Gold Coast was in fact a golden one when Ruck out-swam

Ariarne Titmus Ariarne Elizabeth Titmus, (born 7 September 2000) is an Australian swimmer. She is the reigning Olympic champion in the women's 200-metre and 400-metre freestyle, having won both events at the 2020 Summer Olympics, the world record holder in th ...

and

Emma McKeon Emma Jennifer McKeon, (born 24 May 1994) is an Australian competitive swimmer. She is a four-time world record holder, one current and three former, in the 4x100 metre freestyle relay. Her total career haul of 11 Olympic medals following the ...

to win the 200m freestyle in a Commonwealth Games record 1:54.81. The time was also a Canadian record. Later that night she added to her total with a silver in the 4×100 m freestyle relay together with

, and Alexia Zevnik. The next day Ruck kept amassing medals, winning three more Saturday evening. She started the night tying for silver in the 50 m freestyle event medaling with the Campbell sisters. Next Ruck won a bronze in the 100 m backstroke behind winner, teammate, and world record holder

Kylie Masse Kylie Jacqueline Masse (born January 18, 1996) is a Canadian competitive swimmer. She is a four-time Olympic medallist, having tied for the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the 100 m backstroke and then won silver medals at the 202 ...

. She would cap the night with a silver in the 4×200 m freestyle relay. She went on to win a silver behind Masse in the 200 m backstroke, finishing ahead of

Emily Seebohm Emily Jane Seebohm, OAM (born 5 June 1992) is an Australian swimmer and television personality. She has appeared at four Olympic Games between 2008 and 2021; and won three Olympic gold medals, five world championship gold medals and seven Commo ...

, and a bronze medal in the 100 m backstroke. On the final day of competition, Ruck tied the Commonwealth Games record for total medals at a single games with eight, when she anchored the 4×100 m medley relay team to a silver medal. Her eight medals tied Canadian

Ralph Hutton Ralph Hutton (born March 6, 1948) is a former competition swimming (sport), swimmer who represented Canada in three consecutive Olympic Games in 1964, 1968 and 1972. Hutton won a silver medal in the Swimming at the 1968 Summer Olympics - Men's 4 ...

, and Australians

Susie O'Neill Susan O'Neill, (born 2 August 1973) is an Australian former competitive swimmer from Brisbane, Queensland, nicknamed "Madame Butterfly". She achieved eight Olympic Games medals during her swimming career. Early life Susan (Susie) O'Neill was ...

and

; it also made her the most decorated Canadian female athlete ever at a single Commonwealth Games. After her gold, five silvers, and two bronze medal performance at the games Ruck said that "I'm just so honoured to be able to win that many medals. This meet has been so much fun, and I'm so glad to finish it with these girls by my side." Following the Commonwealth Games, Ruck carried her success that season into the

2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships The 2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, a long course (50 m) event, was held in Tokyo, Japan, from 9 to 14 August 2018. Qualifying criteria Unlike the World Championships and Olympic Games, nations can enter as many people as they like ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. Ruck began the meet with a bronze medal in the women's 100 m freestyle, while adding bronzes in the 4×100 and 4×200 m freestyle relays. She then beat American star and fellow

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

swimmer Katie Ledecky in the 200 m freestyle, leading from start to finish. CBC commentator

Byron MacDonald Arthur Byron MacDonald (born July 23, 1950) is an American Canadian swimming coach who helms the Toronto Varsity Blues swim teams at the University of Toronto. He is a former swimmer who competed for Canada in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich ...

said of Ruck's race and form that "anytime you beat the best female swimmer in the world… it's a huge step forward." Ruck finished the competition in the 200 m backstroke where she out-touched Regan Smith at the wall for silver in the event. This gave her five medals, the most by any Canadian at a single Pan Pacific championships. Ruck said of swimming in Tokyo, the site of the

2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, that "this sets my expectations higher. I just love Japan and hopefully I'll be able to come back here in two years."

2019 season

Competing as part of the Canadian team at the

2019 World Aquatics Championships The 2019 World Aquatics Championships were the 18th FINA World Aquatics Championships, held in Gwangju, South Korea from 12 to 28 July 2019. The city had previously hosted the 2015 Summer Universiade aquatics events in the same venues.

Gwangju Gwangju () is South Korea's sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home Minister. The city was also the capital of South Jeolla Province until the provincial office ...

, Ruck placed fifth in both the

100 m freestyle The 100 metre freestyle is often considered to be the highlight (Blue Ribbon event) of the sport of swimming, like 100 metres in the sport of Athletics. The first swimmer to break the one-minute barrier (long course) was Johnny Weissmuller, in 1 ...

and 200 m backstroke events, and withdrew from the 200 m freestyle beforehand. Again a part of the Canadian women's relay teams, she won three bronze medals in the 4x100 m freestyle, 4x200 m freestyle, and 4x100 m medley relays, only swimming the freestyle leg of the heats in the latter before being replaced by Oleksiak in the final.

2020 Summer Olympics

Ruck took a year off from Stanford to train in Toronto with the Canadian national team under Ben Titley in anticipation of the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. Around this time, she began to suffer from a number of injuries and mental health struggles with depression and

eating disorder An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating behaviors that negatively affect a person's physical or mental health. Only one eating disorder can be diagnosed at a given time. Types of eating disorders include binge eating d ...

. The effects of these were aggravated by the onset of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, which resulted in the Olympics being delayed by a full year, as well as the city of Toronto being largely locked down, leading to greatly increased isolation. She subsequently began taking online courses at Stanford, which she considered to help. Her coach Titley would later say she had had "a really tough couple of years" and praised her resilience. As a result of these challenges, Ruck performances going into the 2021 season were noticeably below her personal bests set in 2018 and 2019. While she was pre-selected for the

event at the Olympics based on her 2019 World Championships result, she would subsequently drop out of this event, with her space being taken by

, who had finished second at the Canadian Olympic trials, where Ruck had finished fifth. She also qualified to compete in the backstroke events, and was named to the Canadian relay teams. Ruck swam in the heats for the 4x100 m freestyle relay, but was replaced with

Maggie Mac Neil Hannah Margaret McNair "Maggie" Mac NeilHer surname is sometimes incorrectly rendered as MacNeil in news reporting and television graphics. (born 26 February 2000) is a Canadian competitive swimmer. A 100 metre butterfly event specialist, she ...

in the event final. She shared in the silver medal won by the Canadian team. Ruck had the ninth-fastest time in the semi-finals of the 100 m backstroke, missing qualification to the final by 0.15 seconds. She went on to place sixth in the heats and seventh in the semi-finals of the 200 m backstroke, qualifying to her first individual Olympic final, where she placed sixth overall. Ruck expressed satisfaction with this, having noted that "this meet has been more downs than ups." Finally, Ruck performed the backstroke leg of the 4x100 m medley in the heats, helping the Canadian team to qualify in first place to the final.

replaced Ruck in the final, where they won the bronze medal, Ruck's second of the Games and fourth Olympic medal overall.

2022 season

Following the Olympic season, Ruck returned to Stanford and enjoyed solid results in the college swimming season, ending with a gold medal in the 200 yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Division I Championships. She announced afterward that she would return to Stanford for a final year. Beginning the

2022 World Aquatics Championships The 2022 World Aquatics Championships, the 19th edition of the FINA World Aquatics Championships, were held in Budapest, Hungary, from 17 June to 3 July 2022. In March 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, FINA banned both the Russian an ...

in the 4x100 m freestyle relay, Ruck was part of Canada's silver medal-winning team, a first for Canadian women at the World Championships. Her 52.92 split was her fastest time in several years, with ''

SwimSwam ''SwimSwam'' news is a swimming news organization covering competitive swimming along with diving, water polo and synchronized swimming. SwimSwam launched as a website in March 2012 and quickly became the most-read swimming website in the world. ...

'' noting "her improvements this year are a step forth in her journey." After placing fourteenth in the heats of the 200 m freestyle, she was sixth overall in the semi-finals, qualifying for the event final. She finished sixth, saying "I did the best I could and I'm going to use this as a building block." Ruck swam in both the heats and the event final of the 4×200 m freestyle relay, where the Canadian team won the bronze medal. Ruck swam the third leg for the Canadian team in the heats of the 4×100 m mixed freestyle relay, helping them qualify to the event final in second place. She was replaced by

in the final, but shared in the team's silver medal win. Ruck finished the year at the 2022 FINA World Swimming Championships in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, winning three relay medals.

2023 season

In her final season competing for Stanford, Ruck successfully defended her title in the women's 200 yard freestyle event at the 2023 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. She had initially intended to compete at the national swimming trials a few weeks later, but after resuming training in Toronto she determined that she had a "need to unplug for a little while, so I can come back refreshed and ready to be at my best in the pool." She was nevertheless named to the Canadian delegation to the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.

Personal bests

Long course (50 m pool)

Short course (25 m pool)

Personal life

Ruck's family moved to

Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...

, U.S., before she was one year old. She does not hold American citizenship and continues to spend time in Canada while visiting family in

Kelowna Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word ''ki� ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, and

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. She attended Chaparral High School in Scottsdale. She attends

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, starting school there in the fall of 2018.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruck, Taylor 2000 births Living people Canadian female freestyle swimmers Canadian female backstroke swimmers Sportspeople from Kelowna Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists in swimming Olympic swimmers of Canada Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Sportspeople from Scottsdale, Arizona Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) Swimmers at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Canada Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Canada Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Canada World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists for Canada Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games