Reema ABDO

Having taken up swimming at the age of 14, Yemen-born Reema Abdo made her debut with the Canadian national swimming team at the 1982 Commonwealth Games, where she reached the final of the 200 metre backstroke event, but did not win a medal. As a student at Arizona State University, she competed for Canada at the 1983 Summer Universiade, where she won bronze in the 4x100 metre medley relay (alongside the non-Olympians Naomi Marubashi, Anita Vandyke, and Megan Watson) and finished seventh in the 100 metre backstroke. She began 1984 by twice breaking the Canadian national record for the 100 m backstroke and was then selected to represent her country at that year’s Summer Olympics, where she won another bronze medal in the 4x100 m relay, this time with Anne Ottenbrite, Michelle MacPherson, and Pam Rai. Her next stop was the 1985 Pan Pacific Championships, where she captured gold in the 4x100 m medley relay alongside Jill Horstead, Jane Kerr, and the non-Olympian Cindy Ounpuu. Now a student at the University of Toronto, she placed eighth in the 100 m backstroke and fourth in the 200 m version (missing bronze by 0.03 seconds) at that year’s Summer Universiade. She was Canadian champion a final time in 1986 and then retired from active competition, eventually joining the Ontario Provincial Police force as a constable. She was inducted into the Ontario Aquatic Hall of Fame in 1997.