Canadians invited to take part in special events and celebrations.
With two weeks to go before the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup in Doha, Canada Artistic Swimming is unveiling its plans to celebrate 100 years of Canadian artistic swimming history through the 2024 season with a signature logo and a full slate of activities.
Canada Artistic Swimming is proud to launch a celebration of its history, recognizing the people who have made significant contributions as athletes, coaches, officials, and as volunteers. We will look back in history at moments contributing to who we are today in addition to highlighting opportunities the sport provides to thousands of artistic swimmers.
In the past century the number of artistic swimmers who have participated in our programs has grown from a few to ten thousand. Our sport has consistently developed people of character who find success in their future careers crediting their experience in swimming as an integral part of their lives.
Making Waves since 1924
Though Artistic Swimming attained Olympic status only in 1984, its history dates back much earlier. The fundamental skills of this sport, namely strokes and figures, were originally part of the Royal Life Saving Society program. In 1924, Canada hosted the first competition in strokes and figures at the YWCA in Montréal, with Peggy Seller emerging as the champion. Seller’s influence continued as a distinguished national and international champion, and in 1952, she authored the first Manual of Canadian Synchronized Swimming.
During the mid 20th century, organized youth sport in North America was formed. Synchronized swimming gave girls an opportunity to participate in sport in their own right and create the artistry, athleticism, and technical skills that continue to this day. Artistic swimming has always provided opportunity for people to participate in sport and become leaders.
Canada has earned a reputation as an Artistic Swimming powerhouse, renowned for its expert technical skill and innovative choreography. Since its first appearance at the Pan American Games in 1955, Canada has captured medals in each of the Games totaling 33 medals including 11 gold. At the Commonwealth Games, Canada reached the podium 17 times including 15 gold medals. Since 1973, Canada is the fifth ranked nation in all-time medals at World Championships with 8 gold, 10 silver and 8 bronze medals.
Since becoming part of the Olympic program in 1984, Canada consistently secured medals in each Olympic Games up to 2000, for a total of 8. Over the past two decades, Canada has achieved eight top-six finishes in Duet and Team events, demonstrating our commitment to returning to the podium.
Celebrating a Century of Artistic Swimming
The 100th anniversary is an opportunity to celebrate the country’s rich history and tradition of excellence in artistic swimming and prepare for the next century of sport in Canada.
“We wanted to create very special opportunities that allow the nation and the Canadian artistic swimming community to come together to recognize the past as well as honour our current generation of athletes who are representing the Maple Leaf in competitions around the world,” said Steve Wallace, Canada Artistic Swimming’s CEO. “We’re inviting all Canadians to join us in these celebrations.”
Canada Artistic Swimming kicked off the next century with two major announcements this month. The 2024-2028 strategic plan detailed the activities to empower a Canadian style of winning with the goal of returning Canada to the top 5 globally ranked artistic swimming nations. The recent addition of Senior National team head coach Anna Voloshyna was also announced this week.
100-year Anniversary Logo Variations
The century season will include international competitions in 2024 which will include the World Championships in February, the World Cup season in the spring as well as the Paris Olympic Games in August. Canada hosts the 3rd leg of the World Cup season with the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup in Markham, ON from May 31-June 2.
The century season will also feature exciting domestic events throughout Canada, starting with the 2024 Natation Qualifier and the Canadian University League Championships in Winnipeg, MB from March 11-17, 2024. The season will culminate with the 2024 Canadian Championships and 2024 Canadian Masters Championships in Montreal, QC from May 6-12, 2024. Both Winnipeg and Montreal will feature special exhibition demonstrations from the Senior National Team and include Development and Introductory Camps that will allow Canadians to try out the sport. At the National Championships in Montreal, Canada Artistic Swimming will host a special 100th anniversary reception that will bring together and recognize athletes and alumni.
In the Fall of 2024, the celebrations will continue with the Canada Artistic Swimming 100-year Convention and Development conference. CAS will host the first in-person convention in 5 years on September 20-22, 2024, bringing together the artistic swimming community and sport leaders for a weekend of celebration and education. The event will feature concurrent development sessions for coaches, officials and sport leaders, leveraging world leaders in the new scoring system, coaching and world class athletes to illustrate training, technique, and judging. The weekend will include the CAS Annual General Meeting and the 100th anniversary Gala and Awards night. More information to follow.
To learn more about the opportunities to take part in the 100th Anniversary events and support Canada’s national team artistic swimmers, please visit https://artisticswimming.ca/events-results/event-calendar/ .