Katerine Savard (born May 26, 1993) is a Canadian former competitive

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

who specializes in women's butterfly events and freestyle relay. She holds several Canadian national records in the butterfly over the 50-, 100-, and 200-metre distances in both the short and long courses. Savard also holds the Canadian junior butterfly record in the 200-metre event. She won the gold medal at the 100-metre butterfly event at the

2013 Summer Universiade The 2013 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXVII Summer Universiade (; ), was held in the city of Kazan, Russia, the most northerly city ever to host a Summer Universiade. Over 10,400 university athletes from 162 countries participated ...

, held in

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

. Savard also won gold at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

in the 100-metre butterfly in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, where she set the Commonwealth record in the process. At the same games, she won a bronze medal as a member of the women's 4×100-metre medley relay team.

Personal life

With her mother afraid of drowning, Savard began to swim early and dove into the water at the age of 8 months. At this time, she did not like water. She continued to meet her Aquaventure 4 certification, where she stands out for her excellent technique in several strokes and was invited to join the sports team Swim Club UNIK from Pont-Rouge. In 2004, at 10 years old, after a few medals in regional competitions, she received the title of succession of the year of this club. She takes more taste for competitions and decided in 2006, at age 13, to join the swim club CSQ at Quebec City which offers the Sport-Study swimming in high school the Camaradière. Within months, intensive training led her to achieve the standard Youth and to make her first provincial team, the "Triangulaire" in 2007. She made her first provincial record in 2008. She joined her first and only Canadian junior team in 2009 and made her first Canadian record in 2011. In 2010, her performances escalated on senior teams, despite her 16 years old age, becoming a national champion in the 100-metre butterfly. In 2016, she is part of the national team and has participated in many major games including London Olympics 2012 for which she was selected at just 18 years of age. Since 2013, she stands out on the international scene and has established a world record of the Summer Universiade in 100-metre butterfly. For 2016, she achieved a bronze at the Rio Olympic Games.

Career

At the 2015

FINA World Aquatics Championships The World Aquatics Championships, formerly the FINA World Championships, are the World Championships for six aquatic disciplines: swimming, diving, high diving, open water swimming, artistic swimming, and water polo. The championships are stag ...

in Kazan, Russia, she finished 5th in the 100-metre butterfly. She ended the year with the seventh world ranking position in this race. She also finished fifth in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay. At the

2015 Pan American Games The 2015 Pan American Games (), officially the XVII Pan American Games () and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games (Toronto 2015), were a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Pan American Games, ...

in Toronto, she won three medals. Gold and Canadian record in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay and two bronze medals in 100-metre butterfly and 200-metre freestyle relay. In 2014 at 12th Pan Pacific Championships in Gold Coast, Australia, she won bronze medal in the 4×100-metre medley relay. At the

in Glasgow, Scotland, she won a gold medal and set a new Commonwealth record in the 100-metre butterfly and bronze medal in the 4×100-metre medley relay. At the 2013

FINA Swimming World Cup The World Aquatics Swimming World Cup (formerly known as the FINA Swimming World Cup) is an international series of swimming meets organized by World Aquatics (the international governing body formerly known as FINA). Launched in 1988, the Wor ...

series, she brought three silver medals in butterfly events. At Eindhoven, Netherlands, she took second place in 100-metre butterfly, and at Berlin, Germany, she had two second-place finishes in the 50-metre and 100-metre butterfly. At the 2013

in Barcelona in Spain, she finished 5th with a Canadian record in the 100-metre butterfly. She ended the year with the fifth world ranking position in this race. At the 2013 World

Summer Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a portmanteau of the words "Universi ...

in Kazan, Russia, Savard broke the Universiade record in the 100-metre butterfly, while also acquiring a medal in the 50-metre butterfly at the games. At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London, she finished 17th overall by only two hundredths of a second in the heats in the women's 100-metre butterfly. However, she still advanced to the semifinals, since

Inge Dekker Inge Dekker (born 18 August 1985) is a Dutch former competitive swimmer who specialised in butterfly and freestyle events. She won the bronze medal with the Dutch women's 4×100-metre freestyle relay team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, ...

withdrew. She later failed to advance to the final finishing 8th in her heat and a 16th final placement. She also participated in the 2012

Mare Nostrum In the Roman Empire, () was a term that referred to the Mediterranean Sea. Meaning "Our Sea" in Latin, it denoted the body of water in the context of borders and policy; Ancient Rome, Rome remains the only state in history to have controlled th ...

where she won six medals. At Barcelona, Spain, she won gold in the 100-metre and 200-metre butterfly and silver in the 50-metre butterfly. At Canet in France, she won silver in the 100-metre butterfly and at Monte Carlo in Monaco she won gold in the 100-metre and bronze in the 200-metre butterfly. She completed the circuit as the third best swimmer. At the 2014 FINA World Swimming Championships, she finished in 10th place at the 100-metre butterfly and 13th place at the 200-metre butterfly. In 2016, she was officially named to Canada's Olympic team for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. In April 2017, Savard was named to Canada's

2017 World Aquatics Championships The 17th FINA World Championships () were held in Budapest, Hungary from 14 to 30 July 2017.

team in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. In September 2017, Savard was named to Canada's

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

team. At the

2022 World Aquatics Championships The 2022 World Aquatics Championships, the 19th edition of the FINA World Aquatics Championships, were held in Budapest, Hungary, from 17 June to 3 July 2022. These championships included five disciplines, with high diving not staged for this edi ...

, Savard swam in the heats of the 4x100 m freestyle relay. She was replaced by

Penny Oleksiak Penelope Oleksiak (born June 13, 2000) is a Canadian competitive swimmer. Nicknamed "Magic Penny", she is one of her country's most decorated Olympians. Oleksiak rose to fame during the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she became the first Canadian t ...

in the event final, but shared in the team's first-ever silver medal win at the World Championships in a relay. Savard competed in the heats of the 4×200 m freestyle relay for the Canadian team, helping to the event final, where she was replaced by

Kayla Sanchez Kayla Noelle Sanchez (born 7 April 2001) is a Filipino-Canadian swimmer who represents the Philippines internationally since 2023. She has represented Canada through 2022, at the Olympic and World championship level, and is a two-time Olympic m ...

. She shared in the team's bronze medal win. A month later she was part of the Canadian team for the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. On the second day of competition, she finished fifth in the 100 m butterfly and won a bronze medal in the 4×100 m freestyle relay. Teammates

Maggie Mac Neil Hannah Margaret McNair Mac NeilHer surname is sometimes incorrectly rendered as MacNeil in news reporting and television graphics. (born 26 February 2000) is a Canadian former competitive swimmer. A 100 metre butterfly event specialist, she i ...

and Rebecca Smith did the same double, which Savard called "a hard double for the three of us. We did our best and it turned out pretty well." On the third day of competition she won a silver medal with the 4×200 m freestyle relay team, and qualified in eighth position to the final of the 50 m butterfly. While many of Canada's top swimmers opted to skip the

2024 World Aquatics Championships The 2024 World Aquatics Championships, the 21st edition of the World Aquatics Championships, were held in Doha, Qatar, from 2 to 18 February 2024. Originally scheduled to be held in November 2023, the championships were postponed until February ...

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

, Savard was named to the team, cited in the media as a key veteran presence. She swam the freestyle leg in the heats of the 4×100 m medley relay. She was replaced in the final by

Taylor Ruck Taylor Madison Ruck (born May 28, 2000) is a Canadian competitive swimmer. She won two Olympic bronze medals as part of Canada's women's 4×100 metre and 4×200 metre freestyle relay teams at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Ruck wo ...

, and shared in the team's bronze medal win.

Long course

Short course

Acting career

She played the main role as a swimmer in

Pascal Plante Pascal Plante (born September 3, 1988) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter from Quebec, whose debut feature film, '' Fake Tattoos (Les faux tatouages)'', premiered in 2017. Career He won the Vancouver Film Critics Circle award for Best C ...

's film ''

Nadia, Butterfly ''Nadia, Butterfly'' is a 2020 Canadian sports drama film, directed by Pascal Plante and released in 2020. The film stars Katerine Savard as Nadia, an Olympic swimmer struggling to redefine her life after retiring from the sport at the conclusi ...

''.Gregory Strong
"Canada's Plante humbled by Cannes selection for film 'Nadia, Butterfly'"

CityNews City''News'' is the title of news and current affairs programming on Rogers Sports & Media's Citytv network in Canada. The newscast division was founded on September 28, 1975 as City''Pulse'' as a standalone local newscast on the network's CITY- ...

, June 4, 2020.

References

External links