An Ontario man who helped install the main pool for Rio 2016 says he won鈥檛 take any credit for the early success of Canada鈥檚 swim team, but he believes the 鈥渓ucky toonie鈥� he placed in the pool鈥檚 lining 鈥渙bviously didn鈥檛 hurt.鈥�
Andrew Tiffany of Ottawa-based Sustainable Aquatic Systems told 麻豆影视 Channel he was inspired by hearing stories about icemakers placing loonies in Olympic hockey rinks. The tradition goes back to at least 2002, when both Canada鈥檚 men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 teams won gold in Salt Lake City.
Tiffany said he didn鈥檛 ask his father -- former swimming head coach Trevor Tiffany -- about whether to place the coin in the pool鈥檚 lining, but he figured it wasn鈥檛 going to 鈥渋mpede any of the swimming,鈥� so he decided, 鈥淲hy not?鈥�
Canada鈥檚 swim team has shone in the first three days of the games. Sandrine Mainville, Chantal Van Landeghem, Taylor Ruck, Michelle Williams and Penny Oleksiak won a bronze medal in the 4X100-metre freestyle relay on Saturday. Oleksiak won silver in the 100M butterfly on Sunday.
鈥淚鈥檇 love to think (it was the toonie),鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut no, I think it鈥檚 more to the coaching, the training and our great aquatic program in Canada.鈥�
