Looking back at Canada’s swimming performance at the Commonwealth Games

Day six comes to an end at the Commonwealth Games with Canada taking home nine medals in the pool as the swimming action concludes in Glasgow. Hi and welcome to the CBC Sports Studios. I'm the Commonwealth Games Recap Show host Nathan Clement and joining me is Brittany McLean-Campbell, Commonwealth Games medalist. Now Brittany, swimming has just concluded. What an amazing experience it was at the Toll Cross Centre for the last six days. It was so special. I mean, I will watch high-level swimming anywhere, especially to the Australians because they obviously came to bring it here. It was, I think Devin mentioned he's getting sick of the anthem because he's heard it so much, which is so true. Yeah, the Canadians were lacking in depth. We knew that going in, so it's a little bit hard to understand where we put them in perspective. But in theory, it was so fun to watch them chase medals. They have a lot to learn, a lot to grow. We saw some of our vets, some of our youngsters, and all in all, I love the chance to watch swimming at this level. It's so special. And joining us poolside is Devin Haru. Would it be goggles on the head or caps on the head instead of boots on the ground? What would it be at the pool? Listen, I don't have to wear a cap. I'm bald. I just glide through the water. Forget a shaved down Nate and Britt. Listen, we're in the middle of it all. Everybody's celebrating right now. It's over six days of fantastic swimming here at the Toll Cross Swimming Center in Glasgow. I'm actually trying to keep an eye out for Chad Laclau here. Obviously, he's a star of the show here. 21 medals overall. What a career he's had. But yeah, nine medals here at the pool for the Canadians. I think it's probably sort of right around what we expected. It's been riveting. I mean, the crowds here in Scotland have been great. This place was packed every night, Nathan and Britt. And now it's over. And every one of these swimmers, specifically the Canadians, are taking a deep breath because that was a lot of swimming for the 24 Canadian swimmers who were here competing. It's crazy to think no swimming, no party at these Commonwealth Games. And Chad Laclau gets the record at the buzzer beater in the individual medley relay to close things off. But Britt, let's go into one of the So let's get into it. I appreciate you. Hey, Chad, first of all, congratulations. 21 Commonwealth medals. This has been pretty emotional and what a meet for South Africa. But just take us through this journey. Honestly, it's a cliche to say, but it's been unbelievable. You know, I think, you know, if I take you back to Danny 2010, I was such a green kid, 18 years of age, lucky to even be on the team, came away with five medals, two golds. It all started from there. My whole career kicked off in Delhi. So this Commonwealth journey of mine has been unbelievable. It's really, you know, even four years ago when I got just a silver and four fourths, it was important for me to go through that because it kept me going. You know, those big defeats and those big victories, I take them both with the greatest of respects. And today I stand here, I guess alone in history, could never have done it without my teammates. So I give full, full credit to all of them. Even last night's relay where I never swam in, probably one of the highlights of my career, just watching them get that medal, you know? So for me, just super grateful to still be here at 34. And yeah, when you said 21, I thought you said my age, you know? Hey, you're one of the great people in this wonderful sport. It has been such a banner meet for South Africa and you've been at the heart of moving this sport forward for your country. So when you're walking around and you're celebrating and seeing this and seeing what it means to the whole country, just find some words to describe that. I mean, it's hard to put into words because this is a very special group. You know, I want to start off by, I don't want to single out anyone, but Peter could see us had such a phenomenal week. I mean, what he did tonight alone, 51-7 and backed it up. And last night, 52-2 in the semis, 30 minutes later, 51-9. You know, absolute MVP of the of the week. Michael Hooley, after, you know, getting that 50 breaststroke, not getting the W, I hope he doesn't mind me saying this, showed so much character getting up last night and going 59-4 and again tonight. It just showed that these guys are warriors. They have huge hearts. And Rod, I mean, he stepped up again, never really doing 100 freestyle. 48-1, brought it home in the relay for us in the first day and had steady hands to bring it home for us tonight. So just everyone, all the girls, the team, the physios, I'm really grateful to them all, you know, really, really am. Well, I'm thrilled you're my last interview because like I said, you're one of the great people in this sport. Hey, congratulations, Chad. Thank you very much. Appreciate you guys. Thank you, guys. Thank you, guys. We're doing it live, Britt and Nathan. What a class act Chad Laclau is. And honestly, that to me, stand out from the London 2012 Games is still when Chad Laclau won that gold over Michael Phelps at the time. Nobody was expecting it. He got out of the water. He celebrated with his dad. It's a vision we can all remember. The one takeaway I have, though, from that interview is it's all about team for him. Chad Laclau, at the beginning of all of those Commonwealth Games hardware moments, it was all individual. It was him in the 100 fly, the 200 fly. He even dabbled in some freestyle. But this one, he needed his teammates. It was down to the relays because his fitness is not at the same level it was a decade ago. And it's really cool for him to be aware of that. I also love how he's still a kid and wears his goggles around his neck. Nathan, did you notice that? Yeah, yeah. It's such an amazing touch there. And I remember that 2012 moment where he beat Phelps at the wall and that Olympic success, but also this Commonwealth success. And you hear the character there. You hear the person he is. And it's all team first, as you said there. But also that team first mentality went into one of our team captains, Joshua Liendu, here in the 50 fly tonight. He came fourth, just missing the podium by about 0.5 seconds. Devin, you were there at the pool. Can you take us through what that race was like and Josh's expectations after it? Yeah. So listen, it's a fourth place finish in the fly and the free 50 meter events. And Josh knows that he has some work to do to keep up with the big boys in those events. Right. And this was a perfect place for him to try some things, some tough doubles here. You know, he came to these games wanting to defend his 100 meter butterfly event. And he did exactly that in a Commonwealth Games record time. But in those 50 stroke events, he wants to be part of that conversation. You'll remember in Paris, he slipped in to the 50 meter freestyle final, finished fourth, an unbelievable fourth place there, fourth place here. So that just tells you he's right on the doorstep of the podium. Give this guy two more years, LA 2028. And I think he's going to be exactly where he wants to be. But this international meet Britt and Nathan, I think is a really good moment for Josh to take stock, see where he's at at the end of another tough NCAA season. This is the only international meet he's competing in this year. I can't wait to see what he does because he's right there knocking on the door of the podium in these 50 free and fly events. Yeah. And the only thing I want to add is a bit of the context, too, that was definitely felt on the pool. But in the events that Josh wins, they brought some of the best competition in the world. Some events we saw here at the Commonwealth Games were what we call somewhat diluted. There wasn't necessarily top in the world athletes. He raced the world record holder in the 50 free, the Olympic champ in the fly, like the best and the best were here. So I just did want to add to that because I think it's important to know that it wasn't that Josh was completely off his game and to kind of add on to our medal tally, nine medals in the pool, four of them, four fourth places for Josh Liendo. So we're this close to being, you know, right, similar to where we've been in previous years, but a lot of the falls just didn't quite go our way. It's a measuring stick opportunity for him and he's the kind of leader, the kind of athlete that will really build and go towards L.A. 2020, as you mentioned, Devon, there. But also we had the two relays tonight and the women's relay came oh so close. Strong legs from Kylie Mass as well as Sophie Angus in that race. Yeah, they absolutely let out with what we expected. They needed to get out in the mix and they were. After Sophie's breaststroke, they were leading this four by one hundred medley relay over the Aussies, which was huge. And you can see here, it came down to the last five meters. Madison Kreiger tried all that she could and unfortunately just couldn't hold on. To me, that's a little bit about the experience, but this is a good opportunity for her to test the waters. And then the men's, they were fourth as well, but it was a little bit more of a decided kind of off the podium finish. I think we're in the right direction. By no means are they walking off the pool tonight feeling defeated. They're definitely going to feel a little bit disappointed because obviously ending on a podium would have been great. Kylie Mass getting that 12th medal would have been awesome and it was really down to that two meters. But experience is everything. This is why we come to these major games events for these young swimmers like Ella Jansen and Madison Kreiger. We're going to see them in the future be under similar if not more amounts of pressure and this is going to be the way they build it. It's always building experiences. It's always taking that next step. For you, Devin, being in the pool, was there any takeaways just from the body language or just the energy that the men and women had in the relays? Well, Madison Kreiger was in tears. She was pretty devastated because you're thrust into this situation where the Canadian relay team is surging. As you said, Britt, they're there in first place and you're thinking that you have a chance to secure a medal and she was really disappointed in our post-race chat. We'll continue to talk about the fact that these are all learning experiences. I will say it's a little devastating to finish this way with these two fourth place finishes because whenever you can win a relay medal and you two can speak to this a lot more confidently with your experiences than I can. But it would have been such a wonderful way to end these Commonwealth Games if the women could have found their way onto the podium or the men could have found their way onto the podium. And so there's that that tinge of what if, what might have been here. But I think in in a way if you can use that as a positive to propel you so that when you're in that situation because there is going to be a situation maybe at Worlds when there are Olympic qualification spots on the line in the relay next summer or the big show in LA you're going to have to put what happened tonight behind you and remember that you have the chance to rewrite your history. So I expect that's exactly what's going to happen for the Canadian swimmers but there is this tinge of okay it's over but what might have been that's what I think the feeling is here tonight as we say so long to the pool at the Commonwealth Games. Well great teams find that way to bounce back and find that way to get that result. My only relay experience in the international scene was I entered the water as the second leg I was heading in first by the time I hit the wall I was last. So I am not the expert analyst when it comes to relays but we got to talk about Kylie Mass and what a Commonwealth Games this has been just oh so close to tying the all-time Canadian record but overall she won gold at these games. Great competition for her. Yeah I think this is such a good opportunity for Kylie to remind the rest of the world that she's still here. It sounds silly to say that a 30-year-old athlete is still learning and growing but I do believe that about Kylie. I think she's gaining valuable experience every time she goes somewhere and she even said it to Dev like she soaked up that moment on the podium even more than she has before because you never know when it's going to be able to happen again and the thing about LA 2028 the next Olympic Games we harp on it a lot but there's important context because Kylie Mass is an athlete that if these 50s weren't added to the Olympic program we may have seen the last of her in Paris but she has decided that she's going to focus on her speed her natural fitness she's going to focus on relays and I sure think we're going to still see her in the 100 backstroke but she has this whole new opportunity here in the 50 and she said to you Devon right after the race that she could see visually that her tempo had started dropping a little bit in her previous races and she saw something tangible that she wanted to improve upon she went in and did it in the 50 backstroke and got herself the gold medal to me Kylie I could rave about forever but she is the leader you want on your team she is the one you want guiding the program and she is that consistent force to be reckoned with and for someone like Madison Kreiger who came off disappointment tonight I know firmly it's going to be Kylie Mass that reassures her that this is just the beginning and the best is yet to come. You need leaders like Kylie and as we look to the future as the Commonwealth Games is that perfect forecaster of what's to come whether it's LA 2028 or even if we want to go further into the future of Brisbane 2032 crazy to say those numbers but Devon is there anyone who really stood out to you at the Commonwealth Games that could be that name could be that star to watch the come Oliver Dawson it's really simple for me Brittany and I have been talking so much about him we were really excited to see what all he would do here in front of 11 family members it was a homecoming for him a homecoming and a breakout event for him Britt you have been so eloquent about talking about the fact that we have been waiting for 20 years for some of these breaststroke records to fall and leave it to the 18 year old from Grand Prairie Alberta Oliver Dawson to do it winning a bronze in the 200 or pardon me a silver not a bronze a silver in the 200 meter breaststroke event all week here at the Commonwealth Games he kept telling me just wait for the 200 wait for the 200 I love that when an athlete is willing to speak their goals into existence and then dive into the pool and live up to everything they've been talking about he has all the makings of a champion the pedigree of a champion and when I see him on the pool deck he's starting to get the swagger of a champion as well and that is so important in these international meets with the bright lights and the big stage uh is somebody like Adam Ramsey Petey who was right beside him who he's been looking up to and then all of a sudden life hits you real fast because you're lining up beside him at a Commonwealth Games he didn't flinch watch out in LA for Oliver Dawson and we have spoken a bit about it but over the last two years since we've really been covering Oliver you can tell how much he's grown he's stronger he's more confident he carries himself with that energy which is great the one takeaway I had I went back to the interview with I that I did with him after he broke the Canadian records in the 50 and the 100 breaststroke and I posed him a question of does this make you think about that men's medley relay and is there a shot at the podium in LA and his response was simple every time I do the 100 the faster I go the faster I am for that relay and it's in the forefront Josh Liendo texted him right after he had set that Canadian record in the 100 saying now we have this breaststroker we've been waiting 20 years to talk about Canadian men's breaststroke he's here and the most exciting part about it is it really is he's much watched tv in the pool but he's also must watch tv in all of his interviews as well and since Devin you're in Scotland we thought we brought some Scottish tradition and heritage with us as well as we say goodbye to you from the pool do we fit in do we fit in you oh wow you might see me at the track with that tomorrow it's a brilliant I didn't want to miss out on the party it is a good look covers my bald head and the shine brilliant well thanks for bringing us all the action from the pool we really do appreciate it the energy is palpable so we'll see all of the swimming fans because we know this is a swimming show we have the ready room live every day I've got to plug it I'm so sorry but we have the ready room live every day at the Pampax in California you wonder where Summer McIntosh was this week she's going to be back in the pool on August 12th so although we won't be wearing our cones there Devin and I will be poolside to bring you all the action of the rest to come for Canadian swimming I like the balancing act you've done here but also Britt thank you for the last several days being on the commentary doing the hosting with the swimming so we appreciate you both Devin looking forward to see you in the remaining days and thank you Britt can't wait to see you two in California thanks cheers let's take a look at one must watch event tomorrow after sitting out the commonwealth games in 2022 Damian Warner aimed for a full circle moment in the men's decathlon 12 years ago in Scotland he achieved his first major international gold medal you can watch all the action right here on CBC our coverage begins at 2 p.m eastern 11 a.m pacific we'll see you back here tomorrow night on cbc sports youtube channel and cbcsports.ca