Tokyo Olympics: Adopted from China, Canada’s Maggie MacNeil wins gold and Chinese social media laments its one-child policy

Publication date: 27 July 2021

The 21-year-old’s victory in the 100m butterfly forces introspection given she was abandoned by her biological parents as a baby

Netizens lament the circumstances that forced the swimming star out of her birth nation, but are full of praise for those who raised and trained her

An adopted Chinese girl captured Canada’s first gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and it sparked outcry in China’s domestic media over its now-scrapped one-child policy.

On Monday, Canada’s Maggie MacNeil – who was born in China – garnered worldwide fame as she was crowned Olympic champion ahead of China’s Zhang Yufei, the top-ranked swimmer in the women’s 100m butterfly.

Zhang had to settle for the silver medal in a time of 55.64 seconds, while MacNeil was 0.05 seconds ahead.

MacNeil, as mainland media reported, was abandoned by her biological parents after being born in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province in February, 2000. One year later, she was adopted as a toddler along with her younger sister from a local orphanage by Susan McNair and Edward MacNeil, of London, Ontario, Canada, and they brought both children back to their hometown.

MacNeil began swimming in 2008 and became a rising star at the University of Michigan, where she was teammates with Hong Kong’s own Siobhan Haughey.

Her potential became crystal clear at the World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea in 2019, where she dethroned world record-holder Sarah Sjostrom in the 100m butterfly to win gold in 55.83 seconds.

The 21-year-old world champion’s story is one of the thousands – if not millions – of deserted children in China under the now-scrapped one-child policy.

“Imagine had she not been brought up from the orphanage, or had she not been deserted by her biological parents, what would she be now?” wrote one comment on the country’s microblogging site Weibo. “The adoption changed her life orbit completely as she was given such quality care and training.”

“She might have dropped out of school to support a younger brother had she stayed in China,” wrote another.

The notorious one-child policy, which was rolled out in 1980, was imposed for more than three decades before it was liberalised into a two-child policy in 2015. This was further eased to become a three-child policy in 2021 to deal with a looming demographic crisis underscored by a rapidly ageing population coupled with the lowest birth rate since the Great Famine, the years of 1959 to 1962, when the country suffered an estimated tens of millions of deaths from starvation.

Under the first iteration of the policy, local authorities seeking to meet population targets often took harsh measures such as forced abortions and sterilisation. Families’ preference for boys, especially in rural, farming areas, further resulted in massive sex-based abortions, adoptions or abandonment, leaving a large gender imbalance in the country.

Families which violated the one-child, and later two-child, policy faced hefty fines and difficulty finding a job. As recently as 2020, local authorities in Sichuan fined a family 718,080 yuan (US$110,000) for having seven children, according to Global Times.

All this led many families to abandon their infant daughters at the gate of orphanages, schools or even on the street, in hopes that either the homes or another family would care for them.

By the first quarter of 2021, there were 190,000 orphans in China, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Among them, only 59,000 were taken care of by child welfare institutions nationwide.

The number of orphans stood at 570,000 in 2012, triple that of 2021.

China launched its international adoption programme in 1991. An estimated 110,000 children from China have been adopted internationally since then, most from the United States, wrote Kerry O’Halloran, an adjunct professor from the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies at Queensland University of Technology, in his book The Politics of Adoption.

MacNeil’s story also reminded many of US gymnast Morgan Hurd’s own journey. Born in China’s Guangxi province in 2001, Hurd was adopted by her mother Sherri Hurd, of Middletown, Delaware, at 11 months old, and started gymnastics at the age of three.

The bespectacled US elite gymnast snatched a surprise women’s all-around gold at her World Championships debut in 2017. She claimed the World Championships silver on floor and the all-around bronze in the following year.

According to the US Department of State, among the 82,456 children that the Americans adopted from China between 1999 and 2020, 82.14 per cent were females.

“How many girls failed to realise their potential because of the preference for a boy?” one questioned. “How many female talents have we missed out on?”

Other Chinese netizens insisted that, although the Olympic winner was Chinese by birth, MacNeil’s gold medal added no glory to China.

“Her victory only proves how ethnicity does not matter in sports, as Asians clinched gold and silver in such an epic match,” said one commentator.

Another said: “She helms the citizenship of Canada, and all the credit should go to those who raised and trained her well in Canada.”

“I feel ashamed to see media mention that MacNeil was born in China,” one user said, “What is more worthy of being mentioned may be that we gave her up 20 years ago.”

For her part, MacNeil has been very clear about how she identifies herself.

“I was born in China and I was adopted when I was really young, and that’s as far as my Chinese heritage goes,” she said in the post-race press conference.

“I’m Canadian and I’ve always been Canadian, so that’s just a very small part of my journey to where I am today. It’s kind of irrelevant when it comes to swimming.”

Maggie MacNeil: biography, Tokyo Olympic gold, Chinese heritage and Canadian dream

The 21-year-old’s stock skyrocketed after shocking the world with a record-breaking outing in Tokyo

From her birth in Jiujiang, to overcoming asthma, to not knowing she was Olympic champion, here’s what you need to know

Chan Kin-wa

Andrew McNicol

Chan Kin-wa

and Andrew McNicol

Published: 5:48pm, 26 Jul, 2021

Why you can trust SCMP

TOP PICKS

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Who is Canadian-Chinese swimmer Maggie MacNeil?

26 Jul 2021

Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Margaret MacNeil, of Canada, after winning the women’s 100m butterfly at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Japan. Photo: AFP

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Tokyo Olympics: Cheung wins gold – day 3 as it happened

27 Jul 2021

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Tokyo Olympics: Haughey's sensational day in the pool - as it happened

28 Jul 2021

Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey after the 200m freestyle final in Tokyo. Photo: Getty Images

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Canada’s MacNeil pips China’s Zhang in epic butterfly final

26 Jul 2021

Canada's Maggie MacNeil reacts after taking gold in the final of the women's 100m butterfly swimming event during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Photo: AFP

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Who is Hong Kong Olympic silver medallist Siobhan Haughey?

28 Jul 2021

Hong Kong freestyle record-holder Siobhan Haughey competing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Photo: Xinhua

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Tokyo 2020: Netherlands humiliate China – day 4, as it happened

28 Jul 2021

The Netherlands in action against China in women's football group stage action at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Photo: Xinhua

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Hong Kong’s Cheung Ka-long wins historic fencing gold in Tokyo

27 Jul 2021

Hong Kong’s Cheung Ka-long (left) competing with Daniele Garozzo of Italy in the men’s individual foil gold medal bout at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Photo: Xinhua

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Weightlifter Diaz is Philippines’ first Olympic gold medallist

27 Jul 2021

Philippines’ Hidilyn Diaz reacts while competing in the women’s 55kg weightlifting competition during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Tokyo International Forum. Photo: AFP

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

USA beats China to leave Olympic volleyball champs winless

27 Jul 2021

China’s Zhu Ting (left) spikes during the women's volleyball preliminary round match between China and the United States at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Photo: Xinhua

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Hong Kong’s Haughey cruises into 200m freestyle semi-finals

26 Jul 2021

Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey competes in a heat of the women’s 200m freestyle swimming at the Tokyo Olympics. Photo: AFP

6.9k

Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Margaret MacNeil, of Canada, after winning the women’s 100m butterfly at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Japan. Photo: AFPTokyo Olympics gold medallist Margaret MacNeil, of Canada, after winning the women’s 100m butterfly at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Japan. Photo: AFP

Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Margaret MacNeil, of Canada, after winning the women’s 100m butterfly at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Japan. Photo: AFP

Maggie MacNeil shot to household name status after shocking the world with a gold medal-winning performance at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The 21-year-old made waves across North America after setting an Americas record in the 100m butterfly, while Chinese swimming fans are increasingly fascinated by the Canadian of Chinese birth and heritage who managed to beat their own generational talent Zhang Yufei.

Hong Kong’s Cheung Ka-long clinches Olympic gold in historic win at Tokyo GamesHong Kong’s Cheung Ka-long clinches Olympic gold in historic win at Tokyo Games

05:59

Hong Kong’s Cheung Ka-long clinches Olympic gold in historic win at Tokyo Games

Still a university student, MacNeil managed to better the Canadian women’s relay team’s silver medal-winning performance by clinching the country’s first gold at the postponed Games.

From being adopted by Canadian parents, to having a dream debut at the world championships, to her hilarious reaction to winning Olympic gold, to being given permission by her mother to get a tattoo, here’s what you need to know about Canada’s next swimming superstar.

Canada swimmer Margaret MacNeil competes in the women's 100m butterfly final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Photo: DPA

Biography

Hannah Margaret McNair MacNeil – better known as Maggie in swimming circles – was born on February 26, 2000, in Jiujiang, China. She was reportedly adopted by her Canadian parents in Guanxi after being abandoned at just a few months old. She is a London, Ontario native and started swimming at two years old before joining her first competition aged eight.

MacNeil idolised American five-time Olympic gold medallist Melissa Franklin and said one of her biggest challenges growing up was dealing with her asthma. She played the violin and clarinet in her formative years.

She swam for Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School and the London Aquatic Club before her acceptance at the University of Michigan, where Hong Kong’s own Siobhan Haughey was a teammate. She intends to specialise in law or medicine during her studies.

Find out more

After an impressive junior stint led to an early senior Canadian team call-up, MacNeil had a dream World Championships debut in Gwangju, South Korea in 2019, when she broke the national and Commonwealth records.

After winning bronze as part of the 4×100 m freestyle relay team , MacNeil struck gold in the women‘s 100m butterfly, beating four-time world and reigning Olympic champion Sarah Sjöström in what was considered a major upset.

Margaret MacNeil (second left) with teammates Kayla Sanchez, Rebecca Smith and Penny Olesiak after winning silver for Canada in the 4x100m freestyle relay. Photo: AP

She was immediately touted as a potential Olympic star after winning Swimming Canada’s Breakout Swimmer of the Year and the University of Michigan’s Female Athlete of the Year.

It did not take long for MacNeil to reach the sport’s pinnacle. The humble youngster stunned the world when she won gold in the women’s 100m butterfly at the Tokyo Olympics, beating China favourite Zhang for the top podium place by 0.05 of a second, and setting a personal best and Americas record of 55.59 seconds.

She had placed sixth in the 100m butterfly trials at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games five years earlier. In June 2021, she qualified to represent Canada at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. On Sunday, she swam for Canada in the 4×100 m freestyle relay, replacing Ruck for the finals and swimming a 53.47 second split to help her team to the silver – the swimmer’s first Olympic medal.

Gold medallist Margaret MacNeil with silver medallist Zhang Yufei of China and bronze medallist Emma McKeon of Australia. Photo: Reuters

Tokyo squinting

Aside from going viral in Chinese social media post-Olympic gold medal, videos of MacNeil’s hilarious reaction to placing first also did the rounds.

She was seen squinting at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre results board and took a moment to clock on that she had won the finals. She then exclaimed “Oh my God” after realising, much to the enjoyment of official Olympic commentators.

“I heard my name getting called so I thought I must have done something good, but it wasn’t until I turned around and saw the results that I realised I won,” said MacNeil, who does not wear contact lenses nor prescription goggles. Fellow competitor Sjöström also reportedly congratulated her from the next lane.

It was a stunning achievement for Canada, who have her to thank for their first Tokyo gold medal, while Michigan coaches Mike Bottom, Andrew Craven and Rick Bishop also noted her sheer dedication to training.

Known to be largely unassuming and preferring to stay outside the limelight at university, MacNeil described her training in isolation ahead of Tokyo.

“I’m not feeling as stressed as I should be about the … Olympics. I’m really able to focus on swimming when I’m at the pool and focus on my studies [out of it], and really have the two connected just because I wouldn’t be recognised unless I’m at an event,” she told the Michigan Daily.

Margaret MacNeil after winning in the women's 100m butterfly final. Photo: EPA

Family

Though the official Tokyo Olympic 2020 Games website stated MacNeil was born in London, Ontario, she was reportedly adopted in China by her Canadian parents.

Her adopted parents were very supportive of their daughter’s pursuit but it took time to realise that she could really transition to the senior leagues.

Her mother, Susan McNair, told the Michigan Daily that she would only let MacNeil get a tattoo on one condition: if she qualified for the Olympics, “knowing full well that I would never have a child who got to the Olympics”, she explained. MacNeil went even further, so expect some Olympic-themed ink in future.

MacNeil reportedly has a pre-competition superstition in which she splashes herself 15 times and kicks the backfoot plate three times before getting on the blocks.

Countries: Canada, China