Retirement of diver Pamela Ware | “I had such a great career”

A few months after failing to qualify for the Paris Olympics, diver Pamela Ware hangs up her swimsuit with complete peace of mind.

Pamela Ware started crying on the springboard before making her very last dive on June 29, at the 46^e meeting in Bolzano, in Italian South Tyrol. Colleagues and coaches came to congratulate her on her career of nearly 25 years, including the last 15 at the highest international level.

This was not the ending she had imagined. After a humiliating failure at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, she decided to postpone her retirement to ward off bad luck in Paris. “I didn’t want to end my career like that,” the 3m springboard specialist promised herself.

Even though she was the big favorite, Ware ultimately did not qualify for her third Olympics, failing in second place during the national selections in Windsor on May 19. The twist of fate was relentless for the bronze medalist of the 2023 World Championships, a result which had guaranteed Canada’s only place in the 3m in Paris.

In a state of shock, the winner, Margo Erlam, apologized to her Quebec rival who came to congratulate her as soon as the results were confirmed.

“Everyone said to me: I don’t know how you managed to go see her right away,” Ware said. She’s a good friend, I’m not angry and I’ve never had anything against her. It’s not her fault she beat me! She dove better than me, that’s all. »

This wasn’t the only moment she had to swallow her own disappointment. On returning to Montreal, she had to support her husband, Nova Scotian boxer Wyatt Sanford, who was preparing to compete in his second Olympics despite a serious thumb injury. “I didn’t want to come home depressed and in a bad mood and ruin his Olympic experience. »

As Erlam’s first replacement, Ware was also expected to continue training. The Bolzano competition, where she won gold in synchro with Amélie-Laura Jasmin, gave her a small objective. It allowed him to complete a career that began at the age of 7 in a public swimming pool in Brossard with his big sister Carol-Ann, another future member of the Canadian team. Their father had bet an ice cream that they would not succeed in a backflip… A lifeguard who was observing the scene gave them the number of the Agami diving club.

Pride

Naturally reserved in front of the media, Pamela Ware evolved in the shadow of notable figures like Émilie Heymans, Meaghan Benfeito, Roseline Filion and her ex-synchro partner Jennifer Abel, with whom she finished in a cruel fourth place in her first Olympics in 2016.

The record of the explosive diver, who was distinguished by her numerous tattoos, is no less impressive, starting with her two world bronze medals in the individual 3m, 10 years apart (2013 and 2023). Each time, only two Chinese women beat her.

She also won bronze and silver in synchro with Abel, which made fourth place all the more disappointing in Rio, where they missed the podium by a splash (0.82 points). On the individual springboard, the protégé of coach Aaron Dziver finished seventh.

Participating in the first Youth Olympic Games in 2010, Ware added around fifty medals in major international competitions, including twice gold at the last Pan American Games in the fall of 2023 (1m and 3m).

At 31 years old and with studies in pastry that he was eager to undertake, the time had come to hang up his jersey.

“I thought I had to go to Paris to finish my career,” she rewinds in an interview earlier this week. But I thought about it and realized that I didn’t need that, that I had accomplished enough to be comfortable with retirement. I’ve had such a great career that I should be proud of it. And I’m proud of it. »

It was Mitch Geller, technical director of Plongeon Canada throughout his career, who reminded him of this at the end of the last World Championships in Doha, in February. Ware had revisited his Tokyo nightmare by missing his final synchro dive with Mia Vallée, aborting his attempt after the takeoff jump to throw himself into the water feet first. The duo was therefore unable to qualify the country for Paris, which only increased the pressure for the individual event.

It took Ware a year to exorcise the Tokyo trauma with the help of her new trainer Hui Tong, without whom she “would not have succeeded”. When she was about to repeat the figure that had failed her, she trembled and suffered from heartache. She ended up abandoning it for good and replacing it with another one.

After her mistake in Doha, she avoided diving back into “a big black hole” even if her individual performance suffered (25^e). “Yes, I was stressed because I didn’t want to fall in the pool again, but I didn’t feel horrible. »

Positive until the end

His fondest memory is winning three medals in front of his team at the World Cup in Montreal in May 2023.

“It’s the competition where I had the most fun in my career. It went so well. It showed me that I could still be at the top after Tokyo. I realized that all my confidence had returned. I was just fine. I had rediscovered my love for diving. I didn’t know it at the time, but my mother was crying in the stands! It’s so heartwarming. »

The native of Greenfield Park, on the South Shore, only keeps the best from her time on the springboards and platforms of the planet.

“I had maybe two or three bad performances in my whole career. When you look at it, it’s all positive. I am someone who always tries to see the positive, even when things are not going well. I will continue like this in my next career. »

Busy preparing for her move to Nova Scotia, Ware did not think she would go to Paris to encourage her husband. But when Sanford reached the semi-final of the lightweight boxing tournament, she didn’t give up and headed for the French capital. The Canadian lost his fight, but won bronze, a first for the country in 28 years. She attended the award ceremony at the top of the stands at the Roland-Garros stadium.

Based in Kennetcook, Sanford’s native village of less than 500 inhabitants, Ware continued her training in pastry making, a long-held dream.

“It’s very intense and I love it,” she enthuses, pushing away one of her five cats, which has come to act as a screen. “I am lucky to be able to move from one passion to another. I finish in May and my plan is to open a small pastry shop here. »

If ever, it’s an hour north of Halifax, and she has a weakness for cookies.