Jacqueline Simoneau and Claudia Holzner swim their duet

Jacqueline Simoneau

Biography

Jacqueline Simoneau is a four-time gold medallist at the Pan American Games. At Toronto 2015, she stood atop the podium in the team and duet competitions (with partner Karine Thomas) not long after recovering from a bleeding stomach ulcer that had put her in hospital. It was a serious side effect of an anti-inflammatory medication she had taken for minor tendinitis in her right foot. By winning the duet gold, Simoneau and Thomas qualified for Rio 2016 where they finished seventh in Simoneau’s Olympic debut. 

At the Lima 2019 Pan American Games, Simoneau won the duet competition again, this time with partner Claudia Holzner. They were also part of the team gold medal, qualifying Canada in both events for Tokyo 2020. In her second Olympic appearance, Simoneau finished fifth in the duet event with Holzner before being part of Canada’s sixth-place finish in the team event. 

Simoneau first joined the national team in 2012 when she was still a junior competitor. That year she won a bronze medal in the solo event at the FINA World Junior Championships. Simoneau improved to the silver medal position at the 2014 World Juniors. She made her FINA World Championship debut in 2013, competing in the team events, after which she also began competing in the duet event. As a soloist, Simoneau finished fifth in the technical event and sixth in the free event at the 2017 FINA World Championships. In the duet events, Simoneau and Holzner were seventh in both technical and free. At the 2019 FINA World Championships, Simoneau placed fifth in both solo events. She and Holzner were sixth and seventh in the duet events while the Canadian team finished seventh in both the technical and free events.

A Little More About Jacqueline

Getting into the Sport: Started artistic swimming at age 9… At one point did all four water sports; narrowed it to artistic swimming and diving and then chose to focus on artistic swimming… Competed at her first international event at age 11 and made her first junior national team (for ages 16-18) at age 12… Outside Interests: Enjoys listening to podcasts, being part of a robotics team, kayaking… RBC Olympian… Studied health sciences  at Vanier College…  Would like to attend medical school and become a doctor… Ambassador for Make a Wish Foundation and Fast and Female… Spokesperson for Coeliaque Quebec because she has celiac disease and wants to give back… Odds and Ends: Sports idols include Kyle Shewfelt (her mentor since 2013) and Natalia Ischenko (three-time Olympic champion)… Always eats a little piece of chocolate before a performance… Collects snow globes from every country she visits and now has more than 40… Favourite motto: Mens sana in corpore sano (Latin for “a sound mind in a sound body”)…

Olympic Highlights

Games Sport Event Finish
Rio 2016 Aquatics - Synchronized SwimmingDuet - Women7
Tokyo 2020Artistic SwimmingDuet - Women5
Tokyo 2020Artistic SwimmingTeam6

Notable International Results

Olympic Games: 2020 - 5th (duet), 6th (team); 2016 - 7th (duet)

Pan American Games: 2019 – GOLD (duet), GOLD (team), 2015 – GOLD (duet), GOLD (team)

FINA World Championships: 2019 – 5th (solo technical), 5th (solo free), 6th (duet technical), 7th (duet free), 7th (team technical), 7th (team free); 2017 – 5th (solo technical), 6th (solo free), 7th (duet technical), 7th (duet free), 7th (team technical), 7th (team free); 2015 – 6th (solo technical), 6th (solo free); 6th (duet technical), 7th (duet free), 6th (team technical), 7th (team free); 2013 – 5th (team technical), 6th (team free)

FINA World Cup: 2014 – 4th (duet technical), 4th (duet free), 4th (team technical), 4th (team free)

FINA World Championships (junior): 2014 – SILVER (solo); 2012 – BRONZE (solo), 4th (team)