Jacqueline Simoneau: How medical school has helped me in artistic swimming 

Things have changed a lot for Jacqueline Simoneau in the last three years.

After the last Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 in 2021, the Canadian decided she'd had enough artistic swimming.

Having given a decade of her life to the sport, Simoneau decided to take some time for herself and chase another dream: completing her studies in podiatry at medical school.

In her time away from artistic swimming, the sport changed. A new scoring system was introduced, while men were given the go-ahead to compete in team events at the Olympic Games.

The changes re-lit a fire within the 27-year-old, who made a successful return to the sport by winning her first World Championships gold in Doha in February after trying for nine years.

"I'm a fairly logical person, and so my motivation to return was based on a pros and cons list," she said to Olympics.com in an exclusive interview conducted in Qatar a few days after her win at Worlds. "I had this idea when I was doing my clinical rotations this past summer.

"And there were so many more pros than cons at this point. Life is too short to have regrets, so I came back.

"I wanted to try the new (scoring) system, wanted to qualify for the Olympics again a third time and set out and I did it."

Jacqueline Simoneau: How medical school has helped me

Simoneau attributes her near-immediate success upon her return from a two-year break to gaining a new insight on life from her studies.

"I'd like to think that the little kid inside of me is still the same, but I've matured quite a bit, you know, going into podiatric medical school," the Quebec native said. "I've seen that balance in life is something that is key to success in and outside of sport and also in the medical field.

"I think now I'm able to juggle a few more things on my plate than I was in the past, and to keep a sound mind and a sound body."

There are other plusses, too, from studying in a medical field: "I've had a whole new understanding of what it takes on a physiological level to be able to fully recover, understand it on a molecular level […] what your body needs to recover.

"And I think this has truly helped in my preparation having that greater understanding, not only knowing what my body feels, but knowing what happens on a cellular level, on an anatomical level, and knowing what I can do to optimise that recovery."

Thankfully for the 27-year-old, she hasn't had to use any of her medical knowledge since coming back to the sport to manage any injuries – "knock on wood," she laughed.

"But in terms of training load management, I've had a very short segment class on sports medicine and just understanding training, load management, mesocycles, microcycles.

"I think these are things that actually could potentially be taught to Olympic athletes on a different level, because understanding it – and in a different sort of context – has allowed me to say 'It's okay to take a rest day today, because tomorrow that'll allow me to be even stronger than I was yesterday'."

Artistic swimming now compared to 2021: a whole different sport

Simoneau is optimistic about the future of her sport, which has undergone dramatic changes to the scoring system to make things less predictable. Teams and swimmers that previously were unlikely to challenge for medals are now able to dream of making the podium.

"Seeing that the scoring system has changed in my sport, our objective for Paris is to medal, because that gold medal can belong to anybody in any country," Simoneau enthused.

"The scoring system has changed, and the way that we approach training right now has changed a little bit since I've returned to the sport," she added. "The focus is a little bit more of the technical aspects."

And there's the fact that the sport now has room to grow with men finally being admitted to Olympic teams.

"It's absolutely wonderful now that our sport is becoming more inclusive," she said. "Having males in this sport I think will be tremendous for the sport.

"Hopefully this will spark interest not only in countries who already have artistic swimming as a sport, but in other countries who don't necessarily have a programme yet."

Paris 2024 will be Simoneau's third Olympic Games, making her the veteran (even at 27) on a young team.

But Simoneau is just as every bit as fired up as she was for her first at Rio 2016.

"It's an unreal feeling, knowing that I'm going into my third Olympic Games and going in with team-mates that will be going to the Olympics for the very first time," she shared. "It's truly incredible.

"Yes, this isn't my first time going to the Olympics, but that little flame and that excitement in me feels like it's just my first time again."