Disappointment led to one of the best decisions Byron MacDonald ever made.
After failing to qualify for the 1976 Canadian Olympic swim team, MacDonald applied for a coaching job at York University.
“In hindsight, the best thing that ever happened,” said MacDonald, the veteran head coach of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues swimming program and long-time CBC commentator. “Had I been on the Olympic team, maybe I would not have heard about that job.”
MacDonald might have already retired as a swimmer if Canada had not been awarded the 1976 Olympics and introduced a carding system for athletes.
“If Canada hadn’t won the Olympics I probably would have quit and started working in a huge printing company, which my dad was part of,” he said.
Being comfortable doing media interviews during his swimming career, which saw him win Commonwealth and Pan American Games medals, helped convince MacDonald to approach the CBC about a commentator position.
“I got interviewed a lot,” he said. “I was actually OK. I didn’t freak out in front of the mic. That allowed me to kind of get through it.”
The Paris Olympics will be MacDonald’s 10th as a television commentator.
His CBC career began with the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. He worked for CTV at the 1992 Games and didn’t cover the Rio 2016 Olympics.
“It’s tremendous fun,” he said. “I love it and I look forward to it.”
In the booth, MacDonald wants to introduce the audience to the swimmers. He spends hours researching and has over 400 note cards filled with background information.
“It’s arduous,” he said. “I just feel that people want to know something about the person.
“I try to research the athletes, what’s unique about them, what’s in their life.”
A two-time Gemini Award winner, MacDonald manages to remain impartial even when calling a race with a swimmer he has coached, or a Canadian with the potential to win a medal.
“Inside, my heart might be leaping,” he said. “My job is to tell the story as it happens. I’m not supposed to be a booster. I think I’m very good at being pretty impartial.”
One of the highlights of MacDonald’s career was calling the race at the L.A. Games where Alex Baumann won the 400-metre individual medley in world record time. It was the first of Baumann’s two gold medals and Canada’s first Olympic swimming gold in 72 years.
“It was a big deal,” said MacDonald. “That was very exciting.”
Another thrill was watching Ian Thorpe anchor the Austrian men’s 4x100-m freestyle relay in their win over the U.S. at the 2000 Olympics.
MacDonald was born in Toronto but grew up in suburban Chicago where he attended New Trier High School, the first American school with an indoor pool. He went on to the University of Michigan where he was a three-time All-American.
MacDonald loved the atmosphere and culture of swimming.
“I just loved being with the team,’ he said. “Being around a winning team, being around a winning culture, being around people that are on the cutting edge of training.
“I loved the training more than the racing.”
During his swimming career MacDonald won gold in the 100-metre butterfly and the 4x100-m medley relay at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland. He would take silver in the 100-m fly four years later at Christchurch, New Zealand.
He also took silver in the 4x100-m relay and bronze in the 100 fly at the 1971 Pan American Games.
MacDonald competed at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, finishing sixth in the 100-m butterfly.
During a Canadian trials in 1975, MacDonald asked if he could sit in the CBC production truck. While watching the races he suggested a better camera angle for the breaststroke.
“I had a bit of an eye for it,” he said.
MacDonald took the coaching job at York in the fall of 1976 for $11,000 a year. His salary jumped to $17,000 a year when he joined the U of T in the fall of 1978 as head coach of the men’s team. He assumed the head coaching role in 1983.
Over the year’s MacDonald’s university teams have won conference and national championships. He has placed athletes like Marianne Limpert, Colin Russel and Gabe Mastromatteo on Olympic teams. Along with Linda Kiefer, he helped develop Kylie Masse into a three-time Olympian who has won four medals at the Games.
MacDonald likes the university coaching environment.
“I like the concept of team,” he said. “You don’t get that nearly as much club swimming. I like dealing with more mature athletes, and not having to worry about parental interference.”
Most of the swimmers MacDonald coaches accept they will never compete at an Olympics.
“They know it and they’re happy to be part of the team and happy to be part of the whole experience,” he said.
“It’s very gratifying when we can make them enjoy the sport to that level.”
MacDonald has already decided the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles will be his last for CBC.
“It’s time to turn the reins over to somebody else,” he said. “I started in L.A. It just seems poetic to finish after L.A.”