Gary MacDonald

Gary Wayne MacDonald (born December 15, 1953) is a Canadian freestyle swimmer who competed for Simon Fraser University and won a silver medal representing Canada in the 1976 Montreal Olympics in the Men's 4×100 m medley relay. MacDonald was the Canadian record holder in the 100 and 50-metre freestyle and the 200 metre individual medley, demonstrating his skills as a multi-stroke technician. After completing his education and coaching swimming at Toronto's York University from 1979-1980, he coached the Canadian Dolphin SC in Vancouver, British Columbia from 1980-1983, then moved East to Nova Scottia and coached swimming for the Halifax Trojan Aquatic Club from 1983-2004. Remaining in greater Halifax, he then coached at Dalhousie University from 2004-2015 and then moved sixty miles North to Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scottia, where he began as Head Coach in 2015, continuing through around 2021. He began more extensive training as a future champion during his college swimming career. As a Freshman in 1972, MacDonald helped the SFU swim team capture its first of nine successive national championships in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) conference, which included MacDonald's years of participation in 1972, 1973, 1975, and 1976. In 1975, MacDonald won three NAIA national titles in individual events which included the 50-yard freestyle, the 100-yard freestyle, and the 100-yard butterfly. It was the most titles ever won in one year by an SFU swimmer.

During his time with the SFU team, he captured bronze and gold medals at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games, and in 1975 captured two silver medals in relay events at the Pan American Games.

1976 Montreal Olympics MacDonald won a silver medal in the men's 4×100-metre medley relay at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, with his relay team of Graham Smith, Clay Evans, and Stephen Pickell recording a combined time of 3:45.94 in the finals. The Canadian team was originally ranked at only third or fourth in the event, and knew they would be unlikely to beat the American team, who touched 3.7 seconds before Canada, and took the gold with a world record time of 3:42.22. Swimming the last leg as freestyle anchor for the American team was the 100-meter 1976 Olympic gold medalist and world record holder Jim Montgomery.

MacDonald has held Canadian records in the 100 and 50 meter freestyle, and in the 200 metre individual medley.

During his long career, a few of his top swimmers included Halifax breaststroker Carwai Seto who swam in the 1988 Olympics for Taiwan, and Iona Allen, a gold medal 400 IM winner at the 1992 National Championships.

Honors MacDonald was inducted into the Simon Fraser Hall of Fame in 1987 and is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Hall of Fame. In 2003, the Gary MacDonald Park on Bobcat Drive in MacDonald's hometown of Mission, British Columbia, Canada was named in his honor, and he is a member of the Mission Sports Hall of Fame as the town's first Olympian. In 2020, while still coaching at Acadia University, MacDonald was honored as the Atlantic University Sport Male Swimming Coach of the year, having once previously received the honor.