Team Canada unveil Paris 2024 artistic swimming team
Eight athletes and one alternate were named to the team.
Canada Artistic Swimming and the Canadian Olympic Committee announced the roster of artistic swimming athletes nominated to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Monday.
Canada qualified a full team of eight artistic swimmers for Paris 2024 by being the fifth-best unqualified team across the acrobatic, free and technical routines at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar. That came after earning the team bronze medal at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.
The eight swimmers that will be representing Canada in Paris are Scarlett Finn, Audrey Lamothe, Jonnie Newman, Raphaelle Plante, Kenzie Priddell, Claire Scheffel, Jacqueline Simoneau, and Florence Tremblay. Sydney Carroll is the team’s alternate athlete, and will travel with the rest of the group to Paris.
Earlier this year in a World Aquatics World Cup event at the Aquatics Centre in Paris, the site of the upcoming Olympics, Canada won silver in the team free routine with the highest degree of difficulty in the field. They also impressed at a recent World Cup stop in Markham, Ontario and have been showing signs of improvement all season.
“Going to the Olympics is something we’ve been dreaming about and working towards for so long – I can’t really put into words how much it means to me,” said team co-captain Kenzie Priddell, who had travelled to Tokyo 2020 as the team’s alternate, in a press release. “This team is so strong and so resilient, and we’ve overcome so many challenges in the past year that we know we’ll be able to overcome whatever is thrown at us in Paris, because we have such a special bond.”
Lamothe and Simoneau will compete for Canada in the duet event as well, after making their competitive debut together at the 2024 World Championships, where they placed fifth in the duet free and seventh in duet technical. Simoneau won a gold medal as well in the individual free event at worlds — an event that isn’t on the Olympic program — becoming Canada’s first world champion in artistic swimming in more than 30 years.
Simoneau retired after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but made her return to the sport late last year in an attempt to help the team qualify for Paris 2024. She is going to her third Olympic Games after also competing at Rio 2016.
“Competing in Paris, a city with such rich sporting history, will be incredibly inspiring,” said Simoneau in a press release. “As I approach my third Olympic Games, I am filled with gratitude for everyone who has supported me along this journey and for the opportunity to share this experience with an incredible, unified team. I’m ready to give my all for Canada!”
For Lamothe, going to Paris 2024 is not only the realization of an Olympic dream, but it will be extra special as she competes alongside her childhood idol Simoneau.
“Going to the Olympics is the culmination of a dream I’ve had since I was seven years old,” said Lamothe in a press release. “Going there with Jackie is really the cherry on top for me. I’ve already learned so much from her, and to be guided and be able to go through this experience together, I couldn’t ask for more.”
As a pair, Simoneau and Lamothe won bronze in both the duet technical and duet free programs at the aforementioned World Cup event in Paris, and followed that up with two silver medals at home in Markham.
The team received their official Team Canada Olympic jackets on Monday at a ceremony at the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Montreal office. They also received the news that they will receive an $80,000 bursary from the Canadian Olympic Foundation’s “Great to Gold” initiative, to be split amongst the athletes.
Canada has won eight Olympic medals in artistic swimming over the years, including three gold, four silver and one bronze. The most recent one was that lone bronze, at the Sydney 2000 Games.
Artistic swimming at Paris 2024 will take place from August 5 to August 10 at the Aquatics Centre.
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