Michelle Toro (née Williams; born January 2, 1991) is a Canadian competition
swimmer who specializes in the
freestyle in the sprint distances.[1] She won a gold medal in the
2015 Pan American Games in
Toronto in the 4 x 100 m freestyle and in the 4 x 100 m medley relay.[2] She also won a bronze at the
2014 Commonwealth Games in the 4 x 100 m freestyle.
She competed as part of
Canada's Olympic team for the
2016 Summer Olympics, commonly known as Rio 2016.[3] Williams would help fellow Canadians
Taylor Ruck,
Chantal van Landeghem and
Sandrine Mainville in the women's 4 x 100 m freestyle relay heats, with the team swimming the third fastest time. She then had to make way for teenage star
Penelope Oleksiak in the final, where Oleksiak helped anchor the team to the bronze medal.[4] In an interview after the event, Williams said "we've come a long way, this group of us. It's our medal and it's our medal for Canada, it's just so amazing."[4]
Personal
Williams was born in
Pretoria,
South Africa and speaks fluent
Afrikaans alongside
English, she often goes back to South Africa to visit her family in
Jeffreys Bay.[2] On December 17, 2016, shortly after the
Short Course World Swimming Championships, she married her childhood teammate Billy Toro.[5] They met when she was 12 and he was 14 at the North York Aquatic Club and started dating six years later.[5]
On December 7, 2020, the couple welcomed their first child, Jacob Murray Toro.
As of January 2024, Toro is currently expecting a son.