mardi 29 juillet 2008

Watershow

Last Saturday was our Send off Show before the Olympic Games! We swam outside at Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal, with a few girls from the Olympic team of diving. The weather was not so much with us, it was raining on and off the whole day… But still, we had over a thousand people coming in to see us! Even the Maire of Montreal. My parents and a few friends drove from Quebec to come see my team perform on that day with our fans. During the practice, one of the team members got injured, so the alternate had to jump in her spot, get on top on the highlights, and swim an hour after!

For the one that doesn’t know synchro, it is really hard to be the alternate and know every different spot and make sure you don’t confuse anyone in patterns.

So the show went really well! Bud Light was one of the sponsors of the event and their was a contest of winning a trip of 4 days in Beijing to see the Olympic Games, it’s actually my teammate sister that won it! She was so happy! The only thing is that she is coming not during the synchro competition, but well at least she’ll know the Olympic experience!

After the show, there was a little ceremony, a few speeches, the Villagos, Sylvie Fréchette and Claire Carver gave us our Olympic rings!!! Mine is huge! In gold 14 carat! It is so nice!!! I love it! I don’t think I’ll ever take it out of my finger!

We got back training yesterday, and as of today, we have 6 practices left in the pool in Montreal before we leave for the Games!!! We are so excited! We will leave on August 6th.

mardi 22 juillet 2008

Barcelona!!

Lasr week, we went to a competition in Barcelona, Spain. Our hotel was great and the city is just awesome! There is so much to do and to see! The architecture is really different from Montreal! There is a few picturesposted...!

The first day we arrived we had a short practice in the diving pool of the FINA Worlds 2003 with the amazing view on the city! We were just us in the pool in the midst of getting the feeling back in our bodies after the plane ride. Second and third day, we had a practice in the competition pool which was the Olympic pool of 1992, where Sylvie Fréchette won the gold medal in solo and where the Vilagos twins won the silver in duet. The national team of Spain and Puerto Rico were there plus many duets that will be there at the Olympics. On thursday we swam the technical team. We had a really good performance and constructive comments from the judges. Friday and saturday was free team prelims and finals. The other countries and judges really liked the changes we made from the Olympic Qualifyers in Aprils and gave us a few ideas to make it even better!

I'm now in the plane with my team, ready to get back at work tomorrow, make a few changes during the final countdown to the games!

jeudi 3 juillet 2008

First post!!

Hey everyone!

I am so happy to be part of the Lenovo Olympic blogger! I just got my blog set up and I can't wait to share my journey with you to the Olympic Games!

The Canadian synchronized swimming team got qualified for the Olympics in April. Since then, we are working hard 7 hours a day, 6 days a week, until our moment, the Olympic Games!

For the ones that don’t know synchro a lot, there are 4 events at the Olympics, duet tech, duet free, team tech and team free. The technical programs have a few elements and have to be synchronized from the beginning till the end. The free program is more like a show, there are visual effects but it is still technically really hard. I will be competing in both team events. By the way, we are 8 in a team, plus 1 alternate.

We are training at the Olympic Stadium in Montréal with the national diving, water-polo and speed swimming teams. I'm from Québec city, but I moved to Montréal last year to train with the Olympic team.

Two weeks ago, we went to a training camp in Barbados to make a few changes in our routine and to train outside... (and also get a little tan :P) Our camp was 2 weeks long! It was great! The training facilities were really nice and the temperature was amazing!

We had an Olympic judge come in today to give us comments about our programs and to make small changes to make them perfect!!

That's all until next time!