Rebecca Smith swims freestyle in a raceDarren Calabrese/COC
Darren Calabrese/COC

Rebecca Smith

Team Canada Medal Count

Gold medal icon 0
Silver medal icon 1
Bronze medal icon 0

Biography

Rebecca Smith won a silver medal in her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, swimming the third leg in the heats and the final for the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay. She was also part of Canada’s fourth-place finish in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay.

Smith has been a key contributor to Canada’s recent relay success at the World Aquatics Championships, earning eight career medals.

In her debut in 2017, she swam the butterfly leg in the prelims of the mixed 4x100m medley relay that would go on to win bronze, earning her a medal as well. Smith came home from the 2019 Worlds with three bronze medals from the women’s 4x100m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle, and 4x100m medley relays. Individually, she posted a top-10 finish in the 100m butterfly.

At the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, Smith was a prelim swimmer for the women’s 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays that won silver and bronze, respectively. She won a pair of bronze medals at the 2024 Worlds, swimming the leadoff leg in the final for the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay and the butterfly leg in the final of the women’s 4x100m medley relay.

Smith first made some noise at the 2015 World Junior Swimming Championships where she won two medals, silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay and bronze in the 4x200m freestyle relay. In her return to the world juniors in 2017, she won gold medals in both of those relays and earned two individual medals, silver in the 100m butterfly and bronze in the 50m butterfly. 

In 2018, Smith was a silver medallist at the Commonwealth Games with the 4x200m freestyle relay. She also reached the finals in the 50m butterfly and 100m butterfly. She won three relay medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games where she was also a finalist in the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly.

At the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships, Smith won bronzes with the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays and posted a fourth-place finish in the 100m butterfly.

Smith has nine career medals from her appearances at the short course World Swimming Championships (25m) in 2021 and 2022, including back-to-back silver medals in the women’s 200m freestyle.

A Little More About Rebecca

Getting into the Sport: Started swimming at age 7 and competing at age 8… Followed older sister Madalyn into the sport and training together for eight years made it special and fun… Moved from Red Deer to Toronto at age 16 to train at the High Performance Centre in Ontario… Other Interests: Completed her nursing degree at the University of Calgary in 2024 and plans to become a full time nurse following her swimming career… Enjoys reading, wake surfing, and water skiing… Loves hiking in Banff and Canmore in the summer… Odds and Ends: Favourite quote: “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” Philippians 3:14…

Olympic Highlights

Games Sport Event Finish
Tokyo 2020Swimming4x100m Freestyle Relay - WomenSilver
Tokyo 2020Swimming4x200m Freestyle Relay4
Tokyo 2020Swimming4x100m Medley Relay - Mixed13

Notable International Results

Olympic Games: 2020 - SILVER (4x100m freestyle), 4th (4x200m freestyle), 13th (mixed 4x100m medley)

Commonwealth Games: 2022 - 7th (100m freestyle), 8th (100m butterfly), BRONZE (4x100m freestyle), BRONZE (mixed 4x100m freestyle), SILVER (mixed 4x100m medley); 2018 – SILVER (4x200m freestyle relay), 5th (50m butterfly), 6th (100m butterfly)

World Aquatics Championships: 2024 - 11th (200m freestyle), BRONZE (4x100m freestyle), 6th (4x200m freestyle), BRONZE (4x100m medley), 4th (mixed 4x100m freestyle); 2022 - 12th (100m butterfly), SILVER (4x100m freestyle), BRONZE (4x200m freestyle); 2019 – BRONZE (4x100m freestyle relay), BRONZE (4x200m freestyle relay), BRONZE (4x100m medley relay), 10th (100m butterfly); 2017 – BRONZE (4x100m medley relay), 8th (4x200m freestyle relay)

Pan Pacific Championships: 2018 – BRONZE (4x100m freestyle relay), BRONZE (4x200m freestyle relay), 4th (4x100m medley relay), 4th (100m butterfly), 12th (200m freestyle), 15th (100m freestyle)

World Aquatics Junior Championships: 2017 – GOLD (4x100m freestyle relay), GOLD (4x200m freestyle relay), SILVER (100m butterfly), BRONZE (50m butterfly), 4th (100m freestyle), 6th (200m freestyle); 2015 – SILVER (4x100m freestyle relay), BRONZE (4x200m freestyle relay)