Canadian swimmer Katerine Savard is there for her teammates when they need her most
'Her importance to the team cannot be dismissed,' says CBC Sports' longtime swimming analyst Byron MacDonald
Most monarch butterflies live somewhere in the neighbourhood of 14 brilliant days.
Canadian butterfly swimmer Katerine Savard, who is approaching her seventh World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, has been on the national team for 14 years and counting.
She is targeting a fourth Olympic appearance in Paris next summer, which would mean she's about to navigate uncharted waters.
"When I was young, I thought to myself, I love swimming so much that I want to stay as long as I can," Savard said recently after a training session in Montreal.
"I'm still here. I want to be the first woman in swimming in Canada to go to four Olympics. Hopefully I can show everyone that it's still possible to achieve your dream even if you're 30 years old."
Beginning Saturday, Savard is scheduled to compete in the 50 and 100m butterfly events, in addition to the 4x100 and 4x200m freestyle relays.
Savard has done a lot over the course of her remarkable career. She's also undergone a metamorphosis from teenaged star, and butterfly specialist, to reliable team player — a member of the supporting cast for the next generation of headliners like Penny Oleksiak, Maggie Mac Neil, and Summer McIntosh.
Standard bearer
A native of Pont-Rouge, Que., she has been one of the standard bearers for French Canadian swimmers, as well as a Commonwealth Games champion, and a many-time national record holder in both long and short course competition.
But like most butterflies, Savard attracts attention because of her complexity and kaleidoscope of attributes. She's not only an elementary school teacher in Montreal, but once starred in the title role of a movie called Nadia Butterfly, which was an official selection for the Cannes Film Festival in 2020 and the winner of the best Canadian Feature Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival the same year.
It's the story of Nadia Beaudry, an Olympic swimmer who falls short of her dream while struggling with impending retirement and life after sport.
Part of the plot mirrors what Savard has long dealt with every time she gets into the pool.
"I still love swimming right now, so I still keep going," she admitted.
"But I found it hard to play that role in the movie and I know it will be hard [to retire], one day in my real life for sure. I know I have something else to go to after my career is done, but I mean, swimming has been my whole life."
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'Carried the ball'
Those who have followed Savard's path through international waters have nothing but respect for her longevity and the lasting impression she's made on the Canadian swimming program.
"She has carried the ball for over a decade," said CBC Sports' longtime swimming analyst Byron MacDonald. "I think she's a role model for swimmers who make it into their late twenties. Her polish and professionalism are well respected. It seems like she is always there when Swimming Canada needs her."
Indeed, that time came at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Savard had failed to qualify in her preferred specialty, the 100-metre butterfly, at the national trials, but was convinced by coaches to put aside her disappointment and try and make the grade as part of the 4x200m freestyle relay effort.
She worked hard to transform herself and became so proficient at what was once a foreign stroke that she earned the chance to make another Olympic appearance. Dogged determination paid dividends and at the Games in Brazil, Savard swam the leadoff leg in the preliminaries to help qualify the team for the final.
"I remember I was in the stands earlier watching the other girls swim and something switched in my head. I knew I had to give everything for this and see what happens," she recalled.
In the end, Savard led off again in the final and the Canadians roared to a national record as anchor swimmer Penny Oleksiak touched the wall to secure a bronze medal. It was a different kind of dream than the one Katerine had originally envisioned, but she savoured it immensely.
"That was for sure, one of the best moments in my life," Savard enthused.
"I found out we could achieve a lot of things together and being a part of that, after all those years, was wonderful. I'm so proud of being able to be with the young girls and keep doing that for my country."
Abiding admiration
Brittany Maclean was on the squad with Savard that won the bronze medal in Rio that day and has an abiding admiration for her longtime teammate's accomplishments.
"She has been a staple for this national team for over a decade and continues to perform when the pressure is on," Maclean, now a CBC swimming analyst, reckoned.
"Her ability to make team after team, across multiple, different, events, proves her to be incredibly tenacious and determined. Most would have walked away from the sport at her age and after what she's achieved — me included — but she kept on fighting and continued to perform."
Another former teammate, Rio 200m backstroke bronze medallist Hilary Caldwell, played a supporting role to Savard's lead in Nadia Butterfly and understands the important, ongoing, contribution Team Canada's most experienced swimmer is making.
"It's a value to the team to have senior, veteran, members like that who newcomers can learn from," Caldwell said.
"Finding motivation after 14 years and still being willing to get up and jump in the pool every morning is really an incredible thing. She also had to deal with two of the best swimmers in the world in her 100m butterfly event, (Oleksiak and Mac Neil), happening to be Canadian. But she found a way to keep going and keep making national teams. That's resilience, and it also shows how much she wants to be there. She finds a way."
Spread her wings
MacDonald gushed when he described the extent to which Savard, once exclusively a butterfly phenom, has spread her wings with the passage of time.
"She's a very interesting woman. I remember vividly when she won her first national title and was asked to do an interview after the race in English and said, 'No…no…no.' She grew up near Quebec City and her English was not great. It turned out to be priceless," he chuckled.
"Her importance to the team cannot be dismissed. She doesn't get the kudos that others do. But the relays don't win medals without a strong supporting cast and 'Kat' toils in obscurity in that role — superbly. The country will count on her again this summer."
It's an understatement.
In the absence of the injured Oleksiak and Kayla Sanchez, who now competes for the Philippines, the women's 4x100m relay team which won bronze at Tokyo 2020 and silver at the last world championships, may call on Savard yet again in Fukuoka to play a part in the all-important Olympic qualifying process.
She's more than happy to oblige.
"It takes a lot of people to achieve something and especially swimming in the relays," Savard estimated.
"It's our own individual performance, but it's way more than that. We need to be ready for the team and we need to step up for the whole country. That makes it a way bigger thing."
When she's finished with swimming, she knows there's a full -time teaching job waiting for her because the province of Quebec needs qualified educators. Savard also comprehends the value of the lessons she's learned through her competitive journey and how a student of the game can evolve into a mentor, as she most certainly has.
"Going into a classroom and seeing the kids has changed my perspective," she concluded.
"I don't want them to feel like they have to prove something. I just want them to be happy and to achieve their own dream, whatever that dream might be."
Who knows, perhaps when all is said and done, Savard will also teach her students that some monarch butterflies live much, much, longer lives than anyone could possibly imagine.
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