Elise's Olympic Journey

Japan Open 2010

2010-05-09T13:08:00.000-07:00

Bonjour,

Voici un résumé de nos 3 jours de compétition au Japon.

Équipe technique

"Nous avons mis beaucoup d'heure d'entraînement à Montréal afin d'arriver prêtes à impressionner tous les juges et nos adversaires, nous pouvons maintenant dire "mission accomplie" pour l'épreuve d'équipe technique. Nous avons fait une performance dynamique qui en a mis plein la vue aux juges. Nos éléments techniques étaient bien exécutés et nous sommes très fières de notre performance. Tous les regards sont rivés sur nous pour l'épreuve d'équipe libre, préliminaire qui aura lieu le 4 mai, et ensuite la finale le 5 mai."

Duo technique, Marie-Pier Boudreau Gagnon, Chloé Isaac

"Nous sommes très satisfaite de notre performance d'aujourd'hui, les pointages sont serrés avec les espagnoles qui sont premières pour l'instant. Du point de vue technique, soit 50% de la note totale, nous avons réussi à créer l'égalité avec les espagnoles. Demain, nous comptons surprendre et impressionner les juges avec notre programme libre dont la musique est "Metallica"."

Solo technique et libre, Marie-Pier Boudreau Gagnon

Marie-Pier Boudreau-Gagnon est tellement en forme que nous avons l’impression qu’elle vole littéralement sur l’eau. En plus de combiner force et technique, elle réussit à exploiter l’émotion dramatique de sa musique à la perfection. Ses coéquipières et son entraîneur sont suspendues à chacun de ses gestes. Les juges en sont époustouflées et la classent en tête des trente compétitrices présentes.

"Mon objectif en venant ici était de remonter d'une place sur le rang mondial, soit de passer en avant de l'espagnole qui était 2e aux Championnats du Monde FINA 2009. Après l'épreuve technique j'étais au premier rang et j'ai réussi à maintenir ce classement aujourd'hui en faisant ma meilleure performance personnelle à l'issu des programmes libres. Les entraîneurs, les spectateurs et les juges sont venus me voir pour me dire à quel point ils ont apprécié mon programme et que je leur ai donné des frissons. Je suis très confiante pour la finale qui aura le 5 mai."

Équipe combinée

Demain aura lieu la finale des équipes combinées, suite aux épreuves préliminaires nous avons réussi à susciter le même engouement qu'aux Championnats du Monde FINA de 2009 où nous étions médaillées de bronze et avons eu des pointages qui nous ont placé au premier rang, devant l'Ukraine, le Japon et la France.

Deuxième journée

Voici quelques nouvelles de la journée!

Aujourd'hui, nous avons nagé les préliminaires d'équipe libre. Cette routine, qui nous a permis de remporter le World Trophy à Montréal en novembre dernier, a encore eu beaucoup de succès aujourd'hui. La thématique est sur les cowboys/indiens, c'est une routine très artistique, qui est très rapide au niveau de l'exécution des mouvements et qui contient beaucoup de formation de patron. Nous avons remporté les préliminaires avec une avance d'environ trois points. Les finales auront lieu demain.

Pour une première fois sur le circuit international, Marie-Pier et Chloé ont présenté leur programme libre sur la musique du groupe rock "Metallica". Elles ont terminé deuxième derrière les espagnoles, qui sont médaillées d'argent des Jeux Olympiques de 2008. Elles ont fait une prestation remplie d'énergie et nageront la finale demain également.

Routine combiné, communément appelé le combo est probablement la routine dans laquelle nous nous amusons le plus! Sous le thème de «danse de rue», nous avons déplacé de l’air en remportant la première place devant le public japonais et les juges internationaux. La synchronisation des mouvements a fait une majeure différence aux yeux des juges. Comme nous sommes présentement les médaillées de bronze des Championnats du Monde FINA dans cette routine, il est très important de présenter à chaque compétition des performances éclatantes. Nous avons maintenant les yeux rivés vers la prochaine compétition, la Coupe du Monde, en septembre 2010, en pensant aux améliorations qui pourront être apportées à la routine d'équipe combinée.

Troisième journée

Voici les nouvelles de la dernière journée!

Marie-Pier a compétitionné en solo libre final ce matin. Elle croyait avoir fait sa meilleure performance à vie il y a deux jours, mais croyez le ou non, elle a réussit à faire encore mieux aujourd'hui spécialement au niveau technique! Elle a devancé l'espagnole, qui est médaillée d'argent en duo de Jeux Olympiques de 2008, ce qui a positionné Marie-Pier au premier rang. Elle est très fière de sa performance en plus d'avoir hâte de compétitionner à la Coupe du Monde, en septembre, contre la russe qui est la championne du Monde dans cette épreuve. De plus, elle partira avec son entraîneure représenter le Canada en Chine, dans quatre jours pour aller établir une stratégie.

Nous avons monté sur la plus haute marche du podium encore une fois cet après-midi suite à la finale des équipes libres. Nous avons réussi à améliorer notre synchronisation entre les préliminaires, qui étaient hier, et la performance d'aujourd'hui, afin de donner un pointage final plus élevé auprès des juges, ce qui n'est pas peu dire en moins de 24 heures!

Encore une fois, Marie-Pier et Chloé ont fait une performance plus qu'énergique dans leur duo libre, sur la musique de "Metallica". Avec leur style différent, elles ont réussi à passer en avant des espagnoles qui étaient premières en préliminaires et ainsi finir deuxième au combiné du duo technique.

Sur sept épreuves, nous avons monté six fois sur la première marche du podium avec une deuxième place. Nous retournons donc à Montréal la tête haute avec plusieurs idées afin d'améliorer nos programmes en vue de la Coupe du Monde, en septembre.

Entraîneur:
Julie Sauvé

Nageuses des routines:
Équipe technique: Valérie Welsh, Erin Wilson, Eve Lamoureux, Tracy Little, Stéphanie Durocher, Jo-Annie Fortin, Karine Thomas, Élise Marcotte
Équipe libre: Chloé Isaac, Valérie Welsh, Eve Lamoureux, Tracy Little, Stéphanie Durocher, Jo-Annie Fortin, Karine Thomas, Élise Marcotte
Routine d'équipe combinée:Chloé Isaac, Valérie Welsh, Eve Lamoureux, Tracy Little, Marie-Pier Boudreau-Gagnon, Jo-Annie Fortin, Karine Thomas, Élise Marcotte, Erin Wilson, Stéphanie Leclair Substituts: Stéphanie Durocher, Camille Bowness
Duo technique et libre: Chloé Isaac, Marie-Pier Boudreau-Gagnon

À bientôt!

Watch what we did at the World Trophy

2008-12-12T10:15:00.000-08:00

Here's the link!

http://www.nmnathletics.com/newMediaPlayer/console.htm?DB_OEM_ID=23020&type=live&oemid=23020&id=44428

Day 1 was duet free and thematic we swam 7th and 8th

Day 2 was free team we swam 3rd

Day 3 was combo we swam 2nd

Enjoy!

World Trophy

2008-12-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

Nous revenons tout juste du 3e World Trophy en Espagne à Madrid. La compétition avait lieu sur 3 jours soit du 5 au 7 décembre.

Notre premier entraînement avait lieu le 2 décembre. Après une journée de voyagement, il n’est jamais facile de retourner dans l’eau. Cependant, notre première pratique a très bien été.
Notre horaire était super chargé, nous avions un entraînement avec musique le matin, ensuite un retour à l’hôtel rapide pour dîner, et un autre entraînement dans l’après-midi. Au retour, nous faisions du vidéo afin de corriger le plus d’erreurs possibles pour le lendemain.

La compétition a commencé avec l’épreuve de duo libre avec Marie-Pier et Chloé, elles ont très bien nagé! Une heure plus tard, c’était à Tracy et moi de compétitionner dans l’épreuve de duo thématique. Notre maillot avait des pantalons et un chapeau qui représentait la Diva de Salvador Dali. Tous les duos thématiques devaient absolument avoir une thématique espagnole et nous avions aussi droit à un accessoire. Nous passions dernière et nous avons donné notre meilleure performance jusqu’à maintenant. (Cela fait juste 2 mois que nous pratiquons ensemble.)

Le lendemain, c’était l’équipe libre. Nous avons dû travailler beaucoup sur nos highlights et vu de cette compétition et ils ont tous fonctionnés! Nous nagions le même programme libre qu’aux Olympiques, mais avec plus de la moitié de nouvelles nageuses. Le dimanche c’était le combo. Le public a adoré notre routine!

Nous sommes maintenant en congé pour quelques semaines! En janvier, nous effectuerons quelques changements dans les programmes afin de les préparer le mieux possible pour les Championnats du Monde de 2009, à Rome.

First competition with the new team!

2008-11-28T16:48:00.000-08:00

After the Olympic Games, half of the team retire, which is totally normal!

I'm still swimming and this year, I'm swimming team, combo and duet. The combo is a mix of 5 minutes of everyroutine. It's really visual! It's like a show.

We are leaving for our first competition on Sunday. It's the World Trophee in Madrid, Spain. This competition is really different from the World Championships or the Olympics. There will be only 5 judges (there is 10 usually) and their marks will be only artistic.

We are going to swim the same free team as at the Olympics, the combo is a brand new routine, the duet free is the same routine as the Olympic and the duet I'm swimming is a thematic duet. Every country has to swim on a spanish music for minutes and we are allow to have an acessory. I'll post some pictures later, I have to keep the secret for now!

The duet competition is next Friday, the free team is on Saturday and the Combo is on Sunday.

WE CAME 4TH!!!

2008-08-23T17:52:00.000-07:00

We had an amazing swim!!!

We cam 4th!! Japan got a penalty from touching the bottom and we beat US!!!!

We are really proud!!

Closing today!!!

Final day!!

2008-08-22T18:10:00.000-07:00

I'm a little early on schedule so I've got a little bit of time to write...

After a night of counting and reviewing my routine, we got up ate breakfast and did our hair, make up (which we had a class for Cirque du Soleil) and we put our hat on...

The schedule today looks a lot like yesterday... And I might not have time to say how it goes before a day or 2.... But, here is the draw... US goes first, which is really good for us, then 2nd Australia, 3rd Egypt, 4th Canada, 5th China, 6th Japan, 7th Spain and 8th Russia.

After our performance, we have a dinner at the Canada house with our friends and families.

That's about it for now.... I can't wait to perform...!! And be done... hihi!!!

We tied with the US!!!

2008-08-22T03:53:00.000-07:00

Today was a really good day!

Not even we finally tied with the US team, but we also got one of the best performance of our tech team program which was . It contains 11 different elements.

We had a little music pratice this morning for 15 minutes and we shared with Japan. The practice went really well! Our coaches almost didn't know what to say after each part of our training! We also did a runthrough to make sure we were ready physically and mentally before we competed.

After that, we had a little time to do make up, relax, watch video of our music practice and then we were getting ready for the big event!!!

Imagine what goes in your mind while you're sitting there, an hour before you go... You think about thousands corrections that you have, and then you think of how many people are going to watch you on tv, that your family is in the stands for the BIG competition, you also think about how many hours, weeks, years that you work to be able to swim there...!

It was almost 3.... then you put your cap and googles back on, and you get ready to do the last warm up before the competition. I did my laps of the routine with the I-pod that goes underwater with a teammate, then got out and walk to the call room.

There, we had our focus group, where the captain says what to think about in certain places of the routine, and she told us that whenever we were feeling distracted because it was the Olympics Games, just count louder in your head!!

Then, I took a few breath, a sip of water and the doors opened in front of us. It was OUR turn now!

So we walked on... as cool as we could be and we did our routine, trying to convince everyone that we ROCK!!

The swim felt really good! And the coaches were really happy at the end!

We were swimming 3rd and US 8th... (they are our big competitor) So we went to watch them live... and when we saw that we were tied with them we were just so HAPPY!!!

We had a few minutes after that to go see our families! So I ran up to them and talked to them for a little while...! That was really cool to have them with me at that moment!

We had a short practice for the Free team around 4h30.... We were so excited to go back in the pool and just fight!! So we can be ahead of them and go up in the world ranking.

We are now back in the Village and we can't wait to compete tomorrow!!

COMPETING TODAY!!

2008-08-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

I got up not a long time ago...

I'm competing today! Finally, after all that training! It's tech team. I have a thousands things to think about. My hair are up already and half of my make up is done!

We are swimming around 3 this afternoon! For the one that wants to watch it live go on !http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/

Can't wait to swim!!!

Duet free final day...

2008-08-20T06:33:00.000-07:00

This morning I had the chance to enjoy our last sleep in before the competition started. I really took the time to rest. My family also had a chance to have special tickets to come and visit the Olympic Village. It was really cool to have them here! At lunch time, I got them Mc Donalds from the cafeteria, while I was eating my little plate of couscous beside them. Oh well, I can't wait t0 treat myself and have some Mcnuggets at the end of my competitions!

After they left, we had our daily video session where we focus on what to imprive for the upcoming practice. The spirit was really good and we were really productive. We, then, left all together for the Water Cube to watch the duet final competition. It was really exciting to see the top 12 duets in the World performing back to back and being able to compare them.

Right after that, we jumped into our suits for a pratice of an our in the cold pool. It was good the have Marie-Pier (one of the duet girl that also swim in the team) back in the patterns, because she was focusing on duet the 2 days before. We were swimming with only 7 in the patterns.

10 minutes later, we were sitting in special Canada cars to go to the further training pool. The goal today was to do quality on the first time. It took a little while at first, but we got in pretty good by the end.

It is now 9 o'clock and we are in a bus going back in the Village, I'm also really looking forward to swim in the competition pool tomorrow and show everyone else what we are made of!!!

Olympic starts for Synchro!

2008-08-18T06:23:00.000-07:00

Today, it was the technical duet competition. They are swimming on the theme of cold (which was pretty easy to feel because the pool is freezing!) They swam 11th out of 24. In synchro, the draw is really important because it influences the judges for the scores. They had one of their best swims this year. Their elements were really good. My team and I were overwelmed. They got 6th place, Russia is 1st, Spain second, Japan third, China fourth, and Us fifth. The Russian duet was amazing to watch! They are really really close to perfection!

Right after the duet (Marie-Pier Boudreau and Isabelle Rampling) competed, we got into the warm up pool, in the Water Cube, and we did about 2 hours of (training our routine without musique) Then we took a shuttle to another training pool and we did our music practice. It was a pretty good practice, we still have a few things to correct before the 22 and 23 though.

Tomorrow is free duet prelim!

Training in Korea and back in the Olympic Village

2008-08-16T18:19:00.000-07:00

The 2 last practices in Korea, we had our best runthrues of our lives. It felt really good to go away just our team and train. We were training about 7 hours a day plus an hour of video when we were getting at the hotel. We met the Mayor of the city of Gimcheon, where we were.

Yesterday, the 15th, we flew back to Beijing and we had a day off form training. We went tanning on the pool deck of the village and then I went to the Olympic Store to buy some souvenirs from friends and families.

Today, we had 2 practices, the first one was in a training pool, about an hour away from the Village. We had a really good practice but it was really really hard!!! Then right after, we had a ride to the Water Cube, our competition pool. We saw the Russian team for the first time this year.

Canada won their 3 first medals today.

My parents and brother sould come see me in the Village on the 18th. They got to Beijing 2 days ago. I'm really looking forward to see them!!

Korea training camp

2008-08-11T03:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we made our journey to Korea, while waiting in the airport we all sat around on the floor and watched woman’s gymnastics on the big screen TV. There are no TV’s in the rooms at the Athlete’s Village so we haven’t been able to see any of the Olympics so far.

Upon arriving in Korea we took a 3 hour bus ride to Kimchon City the location of our training camp. The bus took us straight to the pool and we had a short training session from 7h30 till 9 before going to our hotel for the night.

This morning we woke-up and went straight to the pool to train. Since leaving Montreal we have had minimal pool time and even less music practice so it was is nice to have the whole pool to ourselves. Right now we are extremely focused on making the most of our training camp here in Korea, making improvements every day, and perfecting our routine to every last detail.

Village life...

2008-08-11T00:28:00.001-07:00

The Village is like a little city of the best athletes in the World. There are game rooms, big TVs, a gym, a super large cafeteria, and a free McDonald. Our apartments in the Village are HUGE! I’m rooming with Tracy Little one of my teammates. We each have our own bed and the rest of the team is close by.

Since being in the Village, we have had 2 training sessions at the University pool of Beijing. The venue was really nice, but it felt like it was 40 degrees on the pool deck. The duets from Mexico and Greece were training at the same pool as us.

Slowly we are getting use to the jetlag and the 12 hour time change.

I really enjoyed my time in the Village. Right now, we are flying to Korea for a training camp. We have been there before and it has proved to be an excellent place focus 100% on training and be ready to perform at the Games.

Openings!!!

2008-08-11T00:26:00.000-07:00

Two days ago I went to the Opening Ceremonies... We waited for more than 3 hours in a gymnasium and then we waited outside for another 2 hours sweating in the heat. I have never been so hot in my entire life! Everyone was drenched in sweat. While waiting, I called my parents and coaches back home in Canada, they were thrilled here from me at that moment.
Right before we walked into the stadium we entered this hallway. At the end of the hallway, we could see a glimpse of the brightly lit stadium. The whole Canadian delegation started singing the national anthem. I had shivers, the experience was unreal!!! I can’t describe walking into the stadium for the first time! Everyone was cheering and up in the stands I saw thousands and thousands of people.

We made a lap around of the stadium waving at the audience and following the camera men around. After that we waited for the other countries to come in and enjoyed the environment.
When it was time to light the torch a man ran around the top of the stadium before lighting the final torch on the roof of the Birds Nest Stadium. It was just amazing!

By the time the ceremonies were done it was 1-2 am and we were exhausted but still so excited at the same time.

Leaving tomorrow!!!

2008-08-05T12:40:00.000-07:00

Today was our last practice in Montreal!!! That sounds so weird! Not so long ago we were at the contdown 272 days before the Games starts... Now, it's 3 days!!!

Our last 4 practices went really well! We are getting more and more consistency everyday which give us he confidence we need to perform over there.

Yesterday I was on the front page of the news papers in Quebec...!! http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20080804/CPSOLEIL/80803066/6696/CPSOLEIL

And I also got my first caricature... It's posted... hihi

Sunday, we had some families and friends coming to our practice, we did a little show...! Even them saw the improvement we did from the last show!

My suitcase is now ready...!! We are leaving tomorrow morning! Flight to Toronto, and then direct to Beijing!

Next post will be from the Olympic Village!!!

Watershow

2008-07-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

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.

Barcelona!!

2008-07-22T04:02:00.000-07:00

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!

First post!!

2008-07-03T15:20:00.000-07:00

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!