2025 Canada Games Profile

Leading up to the Canada Games, Swim Ontario is highlighting some of the members of our fantastic team!

Confidence comes naturally for many people.

Grier Stokley is one of them.

When it relates to swimming, this 15-year-old is someone who both influences others and is also the recipient of an influencer.

Stokley’s success in the world of aquatics has progressed in the past few years, adding tenacity, poise and assurance to the adjectives that best describe her time in the water. She’s also one who has benefitted from conversations with a former member of, let’s call it her home away from home - the London Aquatic Club.

That role model is 25-year-old Hannah Margaret McNair MacNeil. She’s also an alumnus of the same school that Stokley attends – Sir Frederick Banting Secondary.

In case the name MacNeil doesn’t jog your memory, think again. She’s also known as Canada’s former 100-metres butterfly specialist – a 2020 Olympic gold medallist, 2019 World champion, best at the 2022 Commonwealth, 2023 Pan American champ and the list goes on.

Stokley is no MacNeil. At least, not yet. However, there is no telling how superb Stokely can become over the years. It’s happened time and time again with athletes in many sports. While Stokley’s swim times continue to improve, there’s another bonus in that she’s been selected to join a heavily talented Ontario swim team for a major Canadian classic.

Some see the Canada Games as national bragging rights. Ontario’s objective, which goes beyond the traditional friendship, adventure and experience, is to win another overall title at the 16th Summer Games set for August 8 to 25 in St. John’s, Nfld.

Stokley is coming off her best year of competition in the pool after a solid performance at the Olympic Trials in May of 2024 in Toronto. A few months later, she competed in three finals and came away with a bronze medal in the 400-metres individual medley at the Canadian championships.

That bronze medal remains very special. It was her first at a major event.

“It’s great - but I find swimming in general comforts me and I feel relaxed in water,” said Stokley, who is hoping to turn a dream into a reality and compete internationally for Canada. “I want to go as far as I can, but it will take lots of training and hard work - and I’m prepared for it.”

If you think you’re seeing double in the pool at the Canada Games, no need to be concerned. It’s just twins, and it’s quite common at these events. However, checking the historical books, twins from Ontario taking part in swimming at the Canada Summer Games just might be a first.

Grier Stokley is about six minutes younger than her twin sister, Lauren. Yes, she’s off to the Canada Games, too, and check out her story that willappear on the Swim Ontario website and social media on July 25.

The Stokley sisters are among the 32 swimmers chosen to represent Ontario at the national gathering of young, skilled and gifted individuals. The Games are set for August 8 to 25 with swimming at the Aquarena Fitness Centre, located on the campus of Memorial University.

Olympic, Paralympic and Special Olympics athletes make up Ontario’s contingent who are set to claim supremacy at the largest amateur sports event in the country. It’s considered to be a showcase of able-bodied athletes and athletes with physical and intellectual disabilities.

Twenty-four swimmers are in the Olympic classification for Team Ontario while only six Paralympic and four Special Olympics athletes were chosen. All have the same objective: medals, personal best times and leaving with provincial bragging rights. Stellar performances at previous Canada Games can become a stepping stone to other major events.

Grier, whose initiation to water came in lessons at age three, now devotes 19 hours a week to the pool plus dryland training. Her personal best times in the 200-metres butterfly is two minutes, 21.79 seconds while 2:22.15 is tops in the 200-metres individual medley.

“Everyone has accomplishments and, as swimmers, everyone wants to improve on their previous best races,” said Stokley. “I’ve had tough days in the water – and I’m not the only one.”

She’s also a morale booster. Her 13-year-old brother, also a swimmer, was kept out of the water for several months because of a health matter that required hospitalization. Her advice to him was straightforward.

“Be the person you want to be and show yourself what’s possible by putting your mind to it,” she said. “Tomorrow is a new day.”

David Grossman is a veteran multi award-winning Journalist and Broadcaster with some of Canada’s major media, including the Toronto Star and SPORTSNET 590 THE FAN, and a Public Relations professional for 50+ years in Canadian sports and Government relations.