Aurélie Rivard will experience her fourth Paralympic Games. After London in 2012, Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021, the swimmer from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu will have the opportunity to defend the colors of Canada in Paris in a little over three months.
At the end of the Olympic and Paralympic Swimming Trials last Sunday in Toronto, the Canadian Paralympic Committee and Swimming Canada revealed the selection of 20 athletes who will form the para-swimming team at the Paris Paralympic Games.
Ten medals
Aurélie Rivard has the most podiums on the para-swimming team with ten. The Johannaise, who celebrated her 28th birthday on May 14, won one medal in London, four in Rio and five in Tokyo. Added to this are his 19 medals at world championships.
“It seems unreal to think that I will be going to my fourth Paralympic Games. I’ve been doing this for 16 years and I’m always excited to be at the Games, and it’s a privilege to have been part of the team for so long. I think the athletes will benefit even more from these Games, because we will be able to rediscover everything that we were unable to experience during the Tokyo Games due to the pandemic, and to fully enjoy all aspects of the Games,” declared Aurélie Rivard on the Swimming Canada website.
Three other Quebec swimmers are part of the team, Sabrina Duchesne, Nicolas-Guy Turbide and Philippe Vachon.
The para-swimming events will take place from August 29 to September 7 at La Défense Arena in Paris.
Olympic and Paralympic Trials
Aurélie Rivard, color bearer of the Quebec Region Swimming Club, immersed herself in the spirit of competition during the Olympic and Paralympic Trials held from May 13 to 19 at the Pan American Sports Center in Toronto.
She began the week with a gold medal in the 400m freestyle. She completed the distance in 4 min 33.64 sec. At the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021, Aurélie Rivard shattered her own world record with a time of 4 min 24.08 s.
The Johannaise subsequently won another first place, this time in the 100m freestyle, with a time of 1 min 00.19 s. His halfway time was 29.24 seconds.
His best performance (and a world record) in this event was also achieved in Japan with a time of 58.14 s,
In the 50m freestyle, Aurélie Rivard was also the fastest, stopping the clock at 27.99 s. At the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, his time was 27.37 sec.
Aurélie Rivard completed her participation by obtaining the second best time in the 100m backstroke in the S10 category. She completed the distance in 1 min 11.28 sec.
