NANTERRE, France (AP) — After winning three gold medals and a silver swimming at the Paris Games, it's back to high school for Canadian teen sensation Summer McIntosh.
She will take some time to catch her breath and decompress back home in Ontario during a short break from the pool — and then she has a couple of courses left to complete her high school requirements this fall.
After earning her diploma, McIntosh will begin thinking about what's next, including where she will attend college.
One thing is already decided: It won't be for an NCAA program in the United States. McIntosh's mother, 1984 swimming Olympian Jill Horstead, said her daughter wants more flexibility in her training and meet schedule than American colleges provide.
Yet none of these big decisions are the first thing on the teenager's agenda. For months, McIntosh has been planning her 18th birthday party at the family cottage by a lake - her happy place.
Friends from home will be attending, along with some from Florida where she now trains. It's her golden birthday — she turns 18 on Aug. 18.
“It's going to be fun just to have some time off swimming and kind of take my mind off things,” she said. “Just kind of soak up all of what I've done here.”
Horstead says she is unlikely to relax and rest until after those festivities are over.
Her mom is proud of how McIntosh stays so balanced, making sure her social life remains a key part of her routine right along with swimming and school. It's different than how Horstead operated in her day.
“She's a very social teenager, she demands a fun side. I admire that in her,” the mother said. “She’s a teenage girl with a lot going on who can still have a lot of fun.”
They are all overjoyed with how a near-perfect week in Paris turned out. Horstead's sister, Kelly Draper, came along while her husband and two sons stayed home to decorate the house and host watch parties to cheer on McIntosh with more than 20 people.
Draper's experience in Paris instantly brought her back to the 1984 Games.
“Over the last four years, we've been waiting for this moment to come,” Draper said. “I remember 1984 like it was yesterday and just being there to cheer on my sister was one of the most special moments of my life. ... And now 40 years later, to be here with my sister cheering on her daughter, my niece, has been the most incredible experience of my life.”
McIntosh's only misses in France came in a trio of relays with the Canadians finishing fourth in each of the 4x100-meter medley, the 4x100 and 4x200.
She leaves with golds in her three individual events of the 400 and 200 individual medleys and the 200 butterfly — one that's a little more meaningful considering it was her mother's event. McIntosh earned silver in the 400 free.
“It's been some of the craziest days of my life,” McIntosh said, acknowledging that she is physically and emotionally spent. “Of course you're going to get tired, nine days of Olympic racing, but at the same time I've trained years, so I'm familiar with this kind of pain and exhaustion."
And she has her eyes on 2028.
“I'm already thinking about LA to be honest, I'm really excited."
Her father, Greg, knows it will take time for everything from France to sink in for the family.
“Still digesting all of it for sure. It’s been the focus for our family for the last three years since Tokyo. It’ll take a bit of time for it to come into focus and perspective, this year and the impact of what Summer has been able to do here," he said. “You’re bursting with pride and you’re thankful for all the support that she’s had. There’s a huge team behind Summer.”
An entire country as well.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
Canada's Summer Mcintosh celebrates winning the gold medal in the women's 200-meter individual medley at the Summer Olympics in Nanterre, France, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
A teammate comforts Canada's Summer McIntosh at the end of the women's 4x100-meter medley relay final at the Summer Olympics in Nanterre, France, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
United States' Kate Douglass, Canada's Summer Mcintosh and Australia's Kaylee Mckeown pose with their medals during the awards ceremony for the women's 200-meter individual medley at the Summer Olympics in Nanterre, France, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Canada's Summer Mcintosh celebrates winning the gold medal in the women's 200-meter individual medley at the Summer Olympics in Nanterre, France, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A union leader freed from prison Monday after serving time for her part in a strike against Cambodia’s biggest casino has vowed to continue the labor action until justice is done.
Chhim Sithar was sentenced in May 2023 to two years' imprisonment for incitement to commit a felony, including time served before her conviction, in connection with the strike against the NagaWorld casino, the longest such labor action in the country's history.
She had been leading a strike of hundreds of workers that began in December 2021 to protest mass layoffs and alleged union-busting at the casino in the capital, Phnom Penh, and was arrested and charged after a January 2022 demonstration of dismissed employees who were demanding to be rehired.
NagaWorld in late 2021 had fired 373 employees during financial struggles related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to The Associated Press at her home shortly after her release, Chhim Sithar vowed to continue leading the strike.
"About our advocacy fighting for union rights at NagaWorld, we will continue holding strike action until we get a solution. That’s the position we have determined since the first strike,” Chhim Sithar said, sitting on the floor surrounded by relatives.
“Unfortunately, as of today, after nearly three years, our workers have still not gotten justice. Therefore, as long as there’s no justice, our struggle continues,” she said.
After Chhim Sithar’s arrest, some dismissed workers continued to hold regular protests, appealing for her release and to get their jobs back. However, the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training announced in December 2022 that more than 200 others had accepted compensation under the labor law and dropped their demands.
“Despite relentless efforts by authorities to suppress the strike — including sexual harassment, physical assaults, and judicial harassment — the LRSU strike continues in Phnom Penh,” the Cambodian human rights organization LICADHO noted Monday.
NagaWorld is owned by a company controlled by the family of late Malaysian billionaire Chen Lip Keong. The company received its casino license in 1994 and the property is a huge integrated hotel-casino entertainment complex.
Previous labor union actions in Cambodia were usually at factories in outlying areas or in industrial estates in other provinces. The protest by the NagaWorld workers in the capital was unusually high-profile and drew police action that was sometimes violent.
Last year, the U.S. State Department named Chhim Sithar among 10 recipients of its annual Human Rights Defender Award. She was described by the then-U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia W. Patrick Murphy as “a courageous and tenacious labor union leader who peacefully advocates for the rights of Cambodian workers.”
Cambodia’s government has long been accused of using the judicial system to persecute critics and political opponents. Prime Minister Hun Manet succeeded his father last year after Hun Sen ruled for four decades, but there have been few signs of political liberalization.
Chhim Sithar, right, a union leader being freed from prison after serving time for her part in a strike against the country’s biggest casino, speaks to her supporters at a club on the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Chhim Sithar, a union leader being freed from prison after serving time for her part in a strike against the country’s biggest casino, speaks to her supporters at a club on the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Chhim Sithar, president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld, gestures as she meets her supporters in a club at the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after the union leader was freed from prison on Monday after serving time for her part in a strike against the country's biggest casino. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Chhim Sithar, second from right, president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld, sits near her mother, center, as she meets her staff members in her sister's home at the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after the prominent union leader freed from prison on Monday after serving time for her part in a strike against the country’s biggest casino. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Chhim Sithar, second from right, president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld, meets with her mother, center, and her staff members in her sister's home at the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after the prominent union leader freed from prison on Monday after serving time for her part in a strike against the country’s biggest casino. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Chhim Sithar, president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld, smiles as she meets her staff members in her sister's home at the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after the prominent union leader freed from prison on Monday after serving time for her part in a strike against the country’s biggest casino. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
