 Sylvie Fréchette Her mother enrolled her in lessons at a local pool in her hometown of Montréal. She saw the older kids in the deep end and was sure that was what she wanted to do. Soon after, the City of Montréal began recruiting young children for a show in Montréal; she auditioned and was accepted. Later, Sylvie began training at the Club Aquatique de Montréal (CAMO), where she met a person who changed her life: her future coach, Julie Sauvé. At the age of 11, she competed in her first national championships in synchronized swimming. Two years later, she became National Junior Champion of Canada two years in a row, and the she became the youngest member of the national team. Her first major competition was the World Championships in 1986, where Canada won the team gold medal. At the 1991 World Championships, she also won the gold medal in solo competitions. Sylvie competed in the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992. She was the victim of a sad mistake: a judge incorrectly entered her mark into the electronic scoring system following her brilliant performance; it cost her the gold medal. After a campaign by the Canadian Olympic Association, Sylvie was finally awarded her solo gold medal. Her last competition was the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, where she led the Canadian team to a silver medal. Sylvie retired from competitive synchronized swimming and travelled throughout Canada, making appearances and presenting motivational speeches. She had her own television show and created a fund to send amateur to the Olympics, sponsored by the National Bank of Canada. When Cirque du Soleil was creating "O", Sylvie was their first and only choice to the design the synchronized swimming segments. Initially, Sylvie held the dual role of Performer and Coach, but she chose to do her last performance in 2001 to focus on coaching the synchronized swimming and trapeze segments. In June 2003, Sylvie was promoted to Assistant Artistic Coordinator. She constantly scouts for new talent for the aquatic production.
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