Ruck conjures up memories of Canada’s Mighty Mouse
Taylor Ruck has taken Elaine Tanner back in time and it’s been a pleasant journey.
Ruck has ruled the waves at the Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast, just as Tanner took command of the swimming pool five decades ago in Kingston, Jamaica.
As of Monday, both were proud owners of seven medals from a single Games, a Canadian record also held by swimmer Bill Sawchuk, who turned the trick in Edmonton in 1978.
It is all but assured Ruck will surpass Tanner and Sawchuk on Tuesday morning, as the Canadian women swim the 4x100-metre medley relay final.
Tanner, now 67 and living in Oakville, Ont., hopes it happens.
“I’m really proud of her. She’s such a diverse swimmer,” said Tanner. “She is a great ambassador for Canada, a lovely gal, and records are always made to be broken.
“And no matter what happens, it never erases my accomplishments. I still feel so happy and proud that I did it. In my heart that will never go away. I’m all for other people striving to be the best they can be. At that time, in 1966, I was the best I could be. And I’m content with that.”
At age 15, Tanner came out of nowhere to surprise herself and the world with four gold and three silvers in Jamaica. Canadian swimmers were bridesmaids then, never brides, but Tanner emerged as the most engaging face of the Games, and was nicknamed Mighty Mouse.
Ruck, a 17-year-old born in Kelowna, B.C., and raised in Arizona, was known only in swimming circles. She slipped into Australia under the radar. Tanner recalled it as a comfortable place to be.
“She reminds me a lot of myself going into ’66 because I didn’t know how I was going to do,” Tanner said. “I was virtually untested at that time internationally. I was as much surprised by what I won as everybody else was. It’s a lovely way to go into an event, with no expectations.”
Ruck won gold in the 200m freestyle, silver in the 50m freestyle, 200m backstroke, 4x100 and 4x200 freestyle relays and bronze in the 100m freestyle and 100m backstroke.
Ruck has broken through and may well ride a wave of momentum to the next Olympics. Tanner’s seven-medal performance in 1966 most certainly changed her life, starting with the plane ride home to Toronto and her first media conference.
Between flashbulbs and probing reporters, the shy kid from Vancouver found it uncomfortable. The pressure would build to the 1968 Olympics, too, and there were no sport psychologists to help her navigate that mental minefield. Nor did she have any teammates capable of taking a share of the media pressure.
“I always saw myself as just the kid next door,” said Tanner.
“I never figured that just because I swam fast it made me any different than my friends at school or anybody else.”
Her uncanny abilities in the pool made her Mighty Mouse. Like the record, the nickname has endured.