Pointe Claire honours Olympic athletes

By Ian Howarth, October 24th, 2012

It was a full house at the Malcolm Knox Aquatic Centre last week as hundreds of enthusiastic youngsters - some perhaps future Olympians - turned out for an autograph session with four Pointe Claire-trained Olympic athletes.
Four-time Olympic diving bronze medallist Emilie Heymans, swimmer Samantha Cheverton, synchronized swimmer Tracy Little and triathlete Kathy Tremblay patiently signed anything and everything put in front of them and posed for photographs for hundreds of young swimmers and divers who lined up to have a moment with their favourite Olympic athlete. The autograph session was part of a full slate of activities for the athletes that included a reception at Pointe Claire City Hall where they each received a framed letter from the city's council along with a commemorative medal acknowledging their participation in the London 2012 Summer Olympics. Heyman's coach Yihua Li, who has been instrumental in Heyman's Olympic success, was also honoured. Also honoured was slalom skier ad 2010 Vancouver Olympian Anna Goodman, whose father Russell and mother Sarah Ellwood were on hand to represent their daughter who attends Westminister College in Utah.
“The Aquatic Centre gave me some much over the years, I wanted to give back,” said Heymans, who is the first Canadian athlete to have won medals in four consecutive Olympics (2000 in Sydney, 2004 in Athens, Beijing in 2008 and last summer in London). As for the hordes of young athletes that lined up to get her autograph, Heymans perhaps saw a little of herself before she became part of Canada's national diving team at the tender age of 14. “I hope I can inspire kids to stay active and have fun,” she said. Heymans will celebrate her 32 birthday in December and is gracious in acknowledging that her years represent seniority in the shortened chronology of an Olympic-quality athlete's lifespan. She announced her retirement from diving shortly after the London Olympics. “I feel like I have been doing this (diving and training) forever,” she said. “I feel fine about retiring. I'm really busy.” Heymans is putting her UQUAM degree in fashion merchandising to good use by starting her own line of swimsuits for athletes. At this stage of her entrepreneurial foray, she is sewing the suits by hand herself testing the market with some Montreal area swim clubs. “I want to stay involved with sports. I think I can use my skills as a motivational speaker,” she said.
Pointe Claire native Tracy Little was part of Canada's national synchronized swim team that finished fourth in London. The 26-year-old has spent half her life in the pool, starting out with the Dollard des Ormeaux club before joining the national team in 2002.  She competed in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics and could have gone out a medal winner in London after what she and her teammates thought was one of their better performances. Like Heymans, Little has decided to move on from the competitive world of synchronized swimming. She did not arrive lightly at that decision. “I was really nervous about retiring,” she said. “Swimming is so much a part of who you are. I wondered, what am I going to do without it?” Behind her now are the eight-hour training days and the idea of doing something else is the new challenge. Little now works as a marketing and communications manager for a Montreal fitness studio and sees this area as her future. “Having been an athlete at the national level has given me a good foundation for the world of marketing and communications,” she said. “I feel really proud to have been a part of it for so long.”n