One of the best in her sport has taken another step towards making her Olympic dream come true.
Sydney Carroll is one of the best young competitors in the country in artistic swimming — formerly synchronized swimming — and recently earned a full-time spot with the Olympic training group.
“Even when I was in gymnastics, it was a dream to go to the Olympics. I just wanted to go to the Olympics and I would do whatever it takes to get there,” Carroll said.
“So when and if I make it there, man it would be crazy.”
Most high-performance athletes start their sport of choice before the age of 10. Not in Carroll’s case. She was 11 when she got into her sport, but since then she has been making big gains, and she gives a lot of credit to her coaches.
“They’ve always encouraged me to be my best self, whether that would be having to spend more time studying in school, whether that was being at the pool at a certain different time. They have just really been adaptable to make sure that I would be successful in all areas of life, not just synchro.”
“I’m gonna miss seeing her at the pool every day, but I’m so proud of her and I know that this is the right step for her to achieve her goals so,” said Brittany Leaper, Carroll’s coach.”
“It’s easy for me as a coach after you’ve taught them for so long to let them fly and see what they do on their own.”
And that is what her star protege will be doing: flying to Montreal to go to school and begin a higher level of training in hopes of getting to the grandest stage of all, the Olympics, in a few years from now.
“It would be an honour. Saskatchewan really goes for it in sports,” Carroll said. “And sometimes maybe they seem really little, but they work hard.”
“I know that Syd will do whatever she puts her mind to, so she has told me Olympics so I’m ready,” Leaper said.
“I’m saving my money so I can book my ticket so I can be there when she gets there one day”.
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