 |
Marie-Eve Marleau |
Montreal – Marie-Ève Marleau is about to start a new chapter in her life. Marleau, a member of Canada’s Olympic diving team in 2008 and a national team member since 2002 announced her retirement today as a high performance athlete.
‘’I made up my mind after the Games,’’ said the Laval, Que. resident who placed a career best seventh on 10-metre tower in Beijing. ‘’I reached the final and that was my goal. I had a great career.’’
Marleau now finds herself in unfamiliar waters.
‘’It’s a bit weird to head into the unknown,’’ she said. ‘’I trained as an athlete for 20 years. My life has totally changed just in the past two months. I haven’t totally adjusted to that change.’’
Marleau is proud to be called an Olympian.
‘’I’m ecstatic about my performance at the Games,’’ she said. ‘’I barely qualified for the semi-finals; the whole experience was very emotional. It was difficult not to compete in the 10-metre synchro event (she and her partner Emilie Heymans did not qualify for the Games), but in the end it was very satisfying.’’
“Marie-Eve was a consistent performer who led by example and brought a certain level of maturity to the national team,” says Diving Plongeon Canada Chief Technical Officer, Mitch Geller. “As an individual diver, she was very reliable and finished her career with a great performance in Beijing. Coupled with 10m synchro partner Emilie Heymans, Marie-Eve’s international performance contributions have also been outstanding, delivering 15 international medals since the two joined forces in 2005. We couldn’t be more proud of Marie-Eve and all that she has brought to the Canadian team.”
Looking back, Marleau says her diving career was all worthwhile.
‘’I’ll always remember the hard work I put into it,’’ she said. ‘’There were days I was asking myself why I was making these sacrifices and days where I got so much enjoyment training for this sport which gave me so much. I think I’ll especially miss the traveling.’’
But it’s the future that is now on Marleau’s mind.
‘’I’m going to complete my marketing studies in December 2009,’’ she said. ‘’I would also like to stay involved in diving and perhaps get involved in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. It’ll also be fun to go snowboarding without worrying so much about getting hurt!’’
You won’t find Marleau on a diving board anytime soon.
‘’I won’t be executing a 10-metre dive,’’ she said. ‘’It’s hard on the body... Maybe next year for fun with my friends.’’’
Career highights
About Diving Plongeon Canada
Diving Plongeon Canada (DPC) was established in 1967 as a not-for-profit organization to promote the growth and awareness of the sport in this country. As a member of FINA, the world’s governing body of aquatic sports, DPC contributes to the development of globally accepted standards of excellence in diving and supports the rules and regulations of international competition. Representing nine provincial diving associations, 67 local diving clubs and close to 4,000 high performance athletes, DPC shares a national commitment to advance the art and sport of diving and to position Canada as the number one diving nation of the world. For information, visit www.diving.ca.
