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Taylor
RUCK |
Sport |
Swimming |
NOC |
Canada
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Gender | Women |
Born | 28 May 2000
in Kelowna, CAN |
Height | 1.83 m |
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Further Personal Information |
Residence |
United States |
General Interest |
Injuries |
In April 2016 she fought through bronchitis to swim six events at the 2016 Canadian Olympic Trials in Toronto, ON, Canada. (azcentral.com, 14 Jun 2016) |
Famous relatives |
Her father Colin played ice hockey in the Western Hockey League [WHL] in Canada. (azcentral.com, 14 Jun 2016) |
Hero / Idol |
US swimmer Missy Franklin. (olympic.ca, 12 Apr 2016) |
Awards and honours |
In 2018 she was named Swimming Canada's Female Athlete of the Year. (swimswam.com, 02 Jan 2019)
She was named the 2018 World Junior Swimmer of the Year in swimming website SwimSwam's Swammy Awards. She was also named the 2018 Newcomer of the Year by Swimming World Magazine. (swimswam.com, 02 Jan 2019; swimmingworldmagazine.com, 26 Dec 2018) |
Sport Specific Information |
Name of coach |
Ben Titley [national], GBR; |
When and where did you begin this sport? |
She began taking swimming lessons at age 11 months at Cactus Pool in Scottsdale, AZ, United States of America. She began racing competitively at age eight. |
Further Personal Information |
Occupation |
Athlete, Student |
Languages |
English |
General Interest |
Nicknames |
T-Ruck (olympic.ca, 12 Apr 2016) |
Sporting philosophy / motto |
"Never give up." (olympic.ca, 12 Apr 2016) |
Other information |
EATING DISORDER She developed an eating disorder in the years following the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro after becoming convinced that any extra weight would slow her down and hearing coaches make offhand remarks about her physique. She would go through a cycle of binge eating and then purging, and at one point lost about 10 kilograms. "When you get to a high-performance level, there's a lot of emphasis on doing all that you can do, just to take off one one-hundredth of a second. I just thought, 'I have control over nutrition. Why not do all that I can do?' I characterise myself as a pretty happy person, and I'd say I was more unhappy than not when I was eating less than I should have. And it kind of got to the point where I was having suicidal thoughts. It steals everything from you. There's no room for anything else in your brain." (theglobeandmail.com, 17 Dec 2021)
DEALING WITH PRESSURE She has had help from coach Ben Titley to stop allowing media attention and pressure affect her performances. "I think when I was younger, I felt more expectations just because I didn't really know how to handle it. I think Ben's main point of advice is just keep doing what you're doing and just not let it go over your head. I think that really helps me just focus on practising each day and just keeping my normal routine. If I just stay grounded and keep doing what I'm doing, then I'll be able to achieve more success." (CBC Sports YouTube channel 10 Aug 2018)
GROWING UP IN THE UNITED STATES She was born in Canada but grew up in Arizona in the United States of America, where her family moved when she was age 10 months. When her family would visit her grandparents in Kelowna, BC, Canada, she and her brother trained with the AquaJets, the same team her mother swam for as a teenager. "I've grown up here [in the United States of America] my whole life so I feel American, but I definitely owe my heritage to Canada. I didn't really have a choice, but [if I did] I'd still represent Canada." (olympic.ca, 12 Apr 2016) |
Memorable sporting achievement |
Beating US swimmer Katie Ledecky in the 200m freestyle at the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo, Japan. "I think that race was just amazing. There were so many great competitors in the field, and I wasn't expecting anything other than just to have fun. Winning it definitely made me set my sights on racing the big dogs." (olympicchannel.com, 22 Jul 2019; cbc.ca, 18 Jul 2019) |
Sport Specific Information |
Why this sport? |
Her first experience of a swimming pool was at her family's apartment complex in Scottsdale, AZ, United States of America. As a baby, her father would carry her around the pool and dunk her underwater, which, he said, she enjoyed, and wanted to be dunked again and again. Her love of being in the water and swimming grew from there. |
General Interest |
Milestones |
When she and teammate Penny Oleksiak won bronze as part of the Canadian women's 4x100m freestyle relay team at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, they became the first athletes born in the 21st century to win an Olympic medal for any nation. (SportsDeskOnline, 12 May 2021) |
Sport Specific Information |
Club / Team |
Stanford University: United States |
Olympic Games |
Rank |
Year |
Venue |
Event |
Result |
9 |
2021 |
Tokyo, JPN |
100m Backstroke |
59.45 |
6 |
2021 |
Tokyo, JPN |
200m Backstroke |
2:08.24 |
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2021 |
Tokyo, JPN |
4 x 100m Medley Relay |
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2 |
2021 |
Tokyo, JPN |
4 x 100m Freestyle Relay |
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3 |
2016 |
Rio de Janeiro, BRA |
4 x 100m Freestyle Relay |
3:32.89 |
5 |
2016 |
Rio de Janeiro, BRA |
4 x 100m Medley Relay |
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3 |
2016 |
Rio de Janeiro, BRA |
4 x 200m Freestyle Relay |
7:45.39 |
World Championships |
Rank |
Year |
Venue |
Event |
Result |
5 |
2024 |
Doha, QAT |
50m Freestyle |
24.50 |
3 |
2024 |
Doha, QAT |
4 x 100m Freestyle Relay |
3:37.95 |
6 |
2024 |
Doha, QAT |
4 x 200m Freestyle Relay |
7:55.71 |
9 |
2024 |
Doha, QAT |
4 x 100m Medley Relay |
3:47.99 |
4 |
2024 |
Doha, QAT |
4 x 100m Freestyle Relay |
3:23.79 |
3 |
2024 |
Doha, QAT |
4 x 100m Medley Relay |
3:56.43 |
7 |
2023 |
Fukuoka, JPN |
4 x 100m Freestyle Relay |
3:36.62 |
4 |
2023 |
Fukuoka, JPN |
4 x 100m Freestyle Relay |
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Heats |
2022 |
Budapest, HUN |
200m Backstroke |
DNS |
Heats |
2022 |
Budapest, HUN |
100m Backstroke |
1:01.14 |
6 |
2022 |
Budapest, HUN |
200m Freestyle |
1:57.24 |
2 |
2022 |
Budapest, HUN |
4 x 100m Freestyle Relay |
3:32.15 |
3 |
2022 |
Budapest, HUN |
4 x 200m Freestyle Relay |
7:44.76 |
2 |
2022 |
Budapest, HUN |
4 x 100m Freestyle Relay |
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5 |
2019 |
Gwangju, KOR |
200m Backstroke |
2:07.50 |
4 |
2019 |
Gwangju, KOR |
100m Backstroke |
58.96 |
Heats |
2019 |
Gwangju, KOR |
200m Freestyle |
DNS |
5 |
2019 |
Gwangju, KOR |
100m Freestyle |
53.03 |
3 |
2019 |
Gwangju, KOR |
4 x 200m Freestyle Relay |
7:44.35 |
3 |
2019 |
Gwangju, KOR |
4 x 100m Freestyle Relay |
3:31.78 |
3 |
2019 |
Gwangju, KOR |
4 x 100m Medley Relay |
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4 |
2019 |
Gwangju, KOR |
4 x 100m Freestyle Relay |
3:22.54 |
World Championships Short Course |
Rank |
Year |
Venue |
Event |
Result |
7 |
2022 |
Melbourne, VIC, AUS |
200m Freestyle |
1:52.88 |
6 |
2022 |
Melbourne, VIC, AUS |
100m Freestyle |
52.08 |
3 |
2022 |
Melbourne, VIC, AUS |
4 x 100m Medley Relay |
3:46.22 |
4 |
2022 |
Melbourne, VIC, AUS |
4 x 50m Medley Relay |
1:43.56 |
2 |
2022 |
Melbourne, VIC, AUS |
4 x 200m Freestyle Relay |
7:34.47 |
3 |
2022 |
Melbourne, VIC, AUS |
4 x 100m Freestyle Relay |
3:28.06 |
3 |
2016 |
Windsor, ON, CAN |
200m Freestyle |
1:52.50 |
14 |
2016 |
Windsor, ON, CAN |
400m Freestyle |
4:06.69 |
1 |
2016 |
Windsor, ON, CAN |
4 x 200m Freestyle Relay |
7:33.89 |
8 |
2016 |
Windsor, ON, CAN |
4 x 100m Freestyle Relay |
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World Cup |
Rank |
Year |
Venue |
Event |
Result |
52 |
2023 |
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Overall Ranking |
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8 |
2023 |
Budapest, HUN |
200m Backstroke |
2:14.99 |
8 |
2023 |
Budapest, HUN |
50m Freestyle |
25.18 |
8 |
2023 |
Budapest, HUN |
100m Backstroke |
1:01.24 |
2 |
2019 |
Berlin, GER |
50m Backstroke |
28.31 |
2 |
2019 |
Berlin, GER |
100m Backstroke |
59.84 |
1 |
2019 |
Berlin, GER |
200m Backstroke |
2:08.21 |
4 |
2019 |
Berlin, GER |
100m Freestyle |
54.67 |
6 |
2019 |
Budapest, HUN |
50m Backstroke |
28.94 |
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