Elise's Olympic Journey

Sharing the dream... St-John, NB February 22-23-24th

Telegraph Journal - Sports-Other - Swimming :: Olympian makes splash with local synch... Page 1 of 3

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Marie-Pier Boudreau Gagnon and Elise Marcotte from Canada compete during the women's duet synchronized swimming free routine at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. PHOTO: MICHAEL SOHN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Michael Sohn

SWIMMING

OLYMPIAN MAKES SPLASH WITH LOCAL SYNCHRO CLUB

OTIENA ELLWAND TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL 05 MAR 2013 11:00PM

SAINT JOHN – The last time Elise Marcotte was in Saint John was 11 years ago, when she won her first trophy in synchronized swimming at a national event in 2002. Since then, she’s been to the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics and has two gold medals in duet and team events from the 2011 Pan American Games, among other accolades.

Marcotte recently visited the Surf City Synchro Club at the Canada Games Aquatic Centre to host technical workshops for coaches and athletes in the water and out of it.

Marcotte, 24, retired from synchronized swimming after the London Olympics where she and partner Marie-Pier Boudreau-Gagnon came in fourth in the duet and team categories. Recently, she has been travelling across the country, visiting synchro clubs in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario.

“I want to share my passion for the sport and share the knowledge I’ve learned over the past 18 years and from two Olympics,” Marcotte said.

The wisdom she passed along made an impression on 11-year-old Madison Shannon, who sat alone in the bleachers absorbing what she learned.

“It was the best experience I could ever imagine,” Shannon said. “When I get older I want to be in the Olympics, too. Just to see how she made it all the way there is really cool.”

Shannon was not the only one who made an instant connection with the amicable Marcotte, who was accompanied by a gaggle of kids hanging off her every word.

Even one of the team mothers was smitten.

Shelly Dauphinee, whose two daughters Emma and Cate swim with the Saint John club, billeted Marcotte.

“She represented the Olympic community very well. To think we watched her last summer on television and here she is swimming in our pool, eating breakfast with us, sleeping in our guest room ...” Dauphinee said. “Next time, I said she can even drive our car.”

Dauphinee said Marcotte talked to her girls about the glory of the Olympics and also the challenges she faced to get there.

“She taught my girls a little bit about resilience,” Dauphinee said.

Coach Jennifer O’Blenes said the visit will have a “lasting impact” on her students who took away the lesson that little improvements can make a big difference.

“It’s unreal what they’ve gotten out of her, just overcoming struggles, how to stay motivated, a lot of tips and tricks that can improve what they already have for skills that much more,” she said.

“I think they got a lot of inspiration, which is what we were hoping for. I think they overcame a fear to try new things.”

What was maybe most memorable for the young athletes was seeing Marcotte demonstrate her skills in the pool.

“She was amazing,” said Abby Kelson, 12.

“Everything she did was perfect,” gushed Brooke Streeter, also 12.

While the judges at the Olympics might not agree entirely with these girls assessments, Marcotte said she has no regrets about just missing the mark for a medal.

“Our performance was so good, we didn’t care about the rest, we were an amazing team, we’re still friends,” she said, adding that Team Canada won medals at every other competition besides the Olympics. “We’re really proud of what we did.”

Now she’s on a different journey, finishing up her master’s degree in marketing in Montreal and making herself accessible to young athletes, “so they can see I’m normal,” she said.

Her goal now is to help people discover their calling, hopefully in synchronized swimming.

“Keep working hard and love what you do, it’s the first thing,” she said. “Once you find what you’re passionate about, you don’t care about giving it effort or being tired at the end of the day.”