The ‘Summer of Summer’ and other big stories this week

The federal government’s consultation process on tariffs for Chinese-made electric vehicles ended this week, tensions rose in the Middle-East, and Canada’s Summer McIntosh continued her dominance at Paris 2024.

Here are the top stories this week.

The ‘Summer of Summer’

Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh is entering the Olympic record books after winning gold on Thursday in the women’s 200-metre butterfly with a time of 2:03:03.

The 17-year-old started off the race among the top-three swimmers, trailing behind China’s Zhang Yufei, but as the event wore on, McIntosh took the lead. In the end, McIntosh came in first with Regan Smith of the U.S. taking silver and China taking bronze.

It’s not just a record in the event that McIntosh is taking home either; she joins Canadians George Hodgson in 1912 and Alex Baumann in 1984 as the only three Canadian swimmers to achieve double gold at an Olympic Games and the only female swimmer from Canada to do so.

This is the peak age of an Olympian track and field athlete, research shows

In the quest to understand the pinnacle of human athletic performance, researchers at the University of Waterloo have delved into decades of Olympic data, uncovering a surprising trend among the world’s top track and field athletes.

The study, published in the July 2024 issue of the Royal Statistical Society’s Significance Journal, found the median peak age for Olympic track and field athletes.

Canada women’s soccer coach said spying for ‘scouting’ was normal in email

The now-suspended head coach of the Canadian women’s soccer team said in an email last year that “spying” on opponents “can be the difference between winning and losing” and suggested other teams practise it — including the Canadian men’s team.

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