A Brantford woman is living out her dream as one of the athletes representing Canada at the Paris Olympics.
20-year-old Claire Scheffel is part of the Canadian Artistic Swimming Team — formerly known as synchronized swimming — and she’s been training for this moment since she was seven.
Scheffel says she learned of artistic swimming while at one of her brother’s swim lessons and got started after telling her parents she was interested in trying it out.
“It’s one of the hardest sports out there,” Scheffel says.
“It combines [every part] of sport as we’re holding our breath and really pushing our body to the max, doing all of these different lifts and maneuvers … all while adding in the artistic impression component.”
She says it takes a lot of hours of practice for her and the seven others on the team to synchronize.
“We train from about 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., six days a week. It’s a very intense training schedule.”
The artistic swimming event will take place later this year, from Aug. 5 to Aug. 10.