Aurelie Rivard didn’t have time to talk after she won her first gold medal at these Parapan Am Games. And you can’t blame her: the 19-year-old swimmer had to warm down, get that hardware, belt out the national anthem, eat, and then get ready to swim — and win — her second final of the night just a couple hours later.
Yes, it was a busy Monday for the two-time world champion from St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.
Rivard, one of Canada’s biggest stars in the pool, won double gold on Day 3 of competition at the Parapan Am Games and set two new Parapan Am records in the process.
"It means everything," a beaming Rivard said, brown hair still dripping with water just minutes after she won the S10 50-metre freestyle by a full body length. "It was real special to feel the crowd, to feel the positive energy from the crowd and all the cheering for you… it really pushed me to swim fast."
Rivard, who has a twin sister, a huge smile and was born with an underdeveloped left hand, got off to a quick start in her first final of the night, the S10 100-metre butterfly, and held the lead the entire race to pace Canada to a 1-2 finish. Her time of 1 minute and 10 seconds is a Parapan record. Teammate Samantha Ryan of Saskatoon won silver in 1:11.03.
Between races, she cheered for teammates and tried to not think about her upcoming final.
In the final event of the night, Rivard won the 50-metre free easily, and was about three hundredths away from setting a new Americas record.
"I was kind of nervous," she said. "I wanted to swim fast. I wanted to win of course, but I was not really afraid of losing. I just really wanted to get as close as possible to the Americas record, and it worked."
At 16, Rivard won Paralympic silver in London in the 400-metre freestyle and reached four other finals. She’s been gaining speed ever since. She won double gold (50- and 400-metre freestyle) and two silver medals (200 IM, 100 free) at the world championships last month in Glasgow.
In her first multi-sport games at home, she’s happy to be showcasing her sport.
"We are showing the Canadians what is the para movement, what we can do, who we are," Rivard said. "We’re working really hard to show the Paralympic gold medals are the same worth as the Olympic gold medal, to make Canadians believe that we are as much of an athlete as Olympians. We train as hard as them, as much as them."
Rivard is one of several Canadian swimmers who are now multi-medallists in these Games. Canada is crushing it in the pool, with 38 medals won so far, and nine of them gold. On Monday, Canada added 14 medals to its tally, and four gold — Gordie Michie (S14 100-metre backstroke) and Tess Routliffe (S7 50-metre freestyle) also won their events.
With four days of swimming competition to go, Canada’s target of 80-85 medals is looking pretty good. A handful will likely come from nine-time Paralympic gold medallist, Benoit Huot, who swims in his first of five events on Tuesday.
Rivard is just getting started. She has two gold and a silver so far, but her goal here is seven medals — one in every event.
"I have three and three so far," she said, smiling. "It’s going well."
Then she got her warm-up suit on and belted out the Canadian anthem for the second time of the night.