Karen CLARK

Although born in Montreal, Quebec, Karen Clark’s parents moved to Mississauga, Ontario when she was only two weeks old. It was in this city that she got her start in synchronized swimming, at the age of six, and, in 1983, she became the Ontario Provincial 10 and Under Champion in the solo event. She was Canadian junior champion in figures in 1985, at the time the youngest person to have won the title, and joined the national team in 1988. The following year she captured silver medals in the solo, duets, and team categories at the Junior World Championships, and then went on to win a silver medal in the team event at the senior edition in 1991, alongside Lisa Alexander, Karen Fonteyne, Christine Larsen, Cari Read, and the non-Olympians Charlene Davies, Kathy Glen, and Heather Johnston. By 1994, the next time the tournament was held, only Alexander, Clark, Fonteyne, and Read remained, with Janice Bremner, Kasia Kulesza, Erin Woodley and the non-Olympian Carrie DeGuerre filling in to help Canada bring home a silver medal once again. For the nine-member delegation to the 1996 Summer Olympics, the squad lost DeGuerre, but gained Larsen, Sylvie Fréchette, and Valérie Hould-Marchand, and went on to win a silver medal. Less than three weeks later, Clark’s car was robbed of several items of memorabilia, but the thieves missed her medal.

Clark was at the pinnacle of her career following the Olympics, having also won silver in the solo and team events at the 1995 Pan American Games, but a back injury and several surgeries forced her to retire from active competition in 1997. A graduate of the University of Calgary, she has since worked in sports journalism and was made a member of the Mississauga and Alberta Sports Halls of Fame in 2004 and 2006 respectively.