Carolyn Waldo

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Carolyn Waldo (born December 11, 1964 in Montréal ) is a former Canadian synchronized swimmer . She won three Olympic medals.

Waldo began synchronized swimming at the age of 11 and was accepted into the Canadian national team in 1980. In 1982 she won her first world title with the Canadian team, and the following year the team won the Pan American Games . At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, synchronized swimming was on the Olympic program for the first time, but only the individual evaluation and the duet. Carolyn Waldo competed in the individual competition and won silver behind the American Tracie Ruiz .

From 1985 Carolyn Waldo appeared in a duet with Michelle Cameron , at the 1985 Fina Cup, Waldo won the solo competition, the duet with Cameron and the team competition with the Canadian team. Waldo was able to repeat this triple success the following year at the World Cup in Madrid. At the Commonwealth Games 1986 she won in a duet with Cameron, in the singles the young Sylvie Fréchette started for Canada and also won. But for the time being, Carolyn Waldo remained the strongest Canadian, who was also successful in the 1987 Pan-Pacific Games and the World Cup. Waldo achieved the greatest success of her career at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, after she had already carried the Canadian flag at the opening ceremony. On September 30th, she won the individual standings clearly ahead of the defending champion Tracie Ruiz, on October 1st she won together with Michelle Cameron just ahead of the American Josephson sisters. Waldo was the first Canadian ever to win two Olympic gold medals.

Waldo was already quite popular before the Olympic Games in Canada, the two-time Olympic victory just a few days after the Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson had to give back his gold medal because of doping, made her a kind of national heroine. Carolyn Waldo received the Lou Marsh Trophy for Canadian Sports Personality of the Year in 1988 . She retired from active sports in 1988, but has since been a sports presenter on Canadian television. Waldo is an Officer in the Order of Canada and has been a member of the Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) since 1994 .

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to Kamper and Mallon, page 356, up to and including 1992 a total of seven Canadian women athletes had won two Olympic gold medals, of which, according to page 361, six women rowers won two gold medals in 1992.
  2. ↑ Carolyn Waldo in the International Swimming Hall of Fame (English)
personal data
SURNAME Waldo, Carolyn
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian synchronized swimmer
DATE OF BIRTH December 11, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Montréal