When asked how she views her career, two years after retiring from diving, Meaghan Benfeito hesitates. “I don’t know,” she suggests.
Benfeito has never been an attention seeker. For example, she would have lived very well with not announcing her retirement publicly. She took eight months, after the Tokyo Games, before revealing everything. She had already moved on several months ago. “It’s going to go well,” she said to herself. It was the manager of the national team who convinced her to make the official announcement at the beginning of April 2022.
Obviously, the retirement of a triple Olympic medalist would certainly not have gone smoothly. But this anecdote clearly illustrates the person Benfeito is. An athlete who practiced her sport because she was simply passionate about it.
“I’m not someone who…” she begins, pausing.
She doesn’t finish her sentence, but we guess that she wanted to say that she is not someone who values herself through medals.
“I did it because I loved it,” says the ex-diver. I always worked for what I got. I didn’t just get stuff like that. »
I worked for my medals, I trained, I was a tough guy in tabarouette. Even if my coach told me: “that’s good”, I always found something to improve.
Meaghan Benfeito
“I know I have accomplished a lot. I know it. But it’s not me who’s going to say it. Even here [au Deka CrossFit], sometimes there are new people, and they say: “Have I seen you before somewhere?” I’m like, “I don’t know!” »
No regrets
Still, the 34-year-old woman has had a great career on diving boards from one end of the world to the other. This career did not end exactly as she would have liked; with a 4e place in sync with his partner Caeli McKay, and a 13e place in the 10m individual at the Tokyo Games.
“These are the worst positions. The worst. But at the same time, I could have not been there. With everything that happened… The pandemic, the fire…”
The diver actually went through two difficult years before the Games, marked by the pandemic, the fire in her condo, a chronic elbow injury, the death of her two grandmothers and a grandfather. Not to mention that his partner Caeli McKay tore ligaments in his ankle four weeks before the Games.
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Meaghan Benfeito and Caeli McKay during the synchronized diving event at the Tokyo Olympics, July 2021
“Already, having been there, I did what I could with what I had. »
“I was okay with the fact that I wasn’t necessarily going back to doing dives. I don’t even know if I’ve said this before, but after getting lost in the air on my first dive of my semi-final, there was a part of me that was like, yes, I didn’t not to do it again.
“I was like at peace with the fact that… I didn’t finish the way I wanted to finish, but at the same time, I gave it my all. I left everything in the pool. I’m glad I pushed through to the end. No regrets. That’s one of the reasons why I was okay with moving on. »
Unique emotions
Two years after his retirement, Benfeito looks “always, always!” » diving competitions. She even plays them on the Deka CrossFit screen during her classes.
On several occasions, the ex-Olympian wrote on her social networks that she missed competition – but “not necessarily [se] throw at the bottom of the 10m,” she says.
“My boyfriend often asks me: would you go back? If you give me time, I might go back to 10m. I’m not afraid of the 10m. It’s about going and preparing yourself properly… It’s all that preparation [qui était dure]. I would be able to do it again, but do I have the mentality to always want to improve? I’ve done enough, I think! »
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Meaghan Benfeito launches from the 10m tower as part of the Tokyo Olympics in August 2021.
“I know I don’t want to go back, but at the same time, there’s nothing that’s going to happen close to what you experience when you’re an athlete. »
When I speak with athletes who are younger, especially in diving, I tell them: dive as long as you can because after that, there is nothing that is going to be even remotely close to what you are experiencing. when you are an athlete.
Meaghan Benfeito
Benfeito misses “the gang”, the rivals who have become family with whom she keeps in touch, like McKay and Quebecer Pamela Ware. “There are many who are no longer there, but they have all become coaches, teams manager or judge. They are still there. Roseline [Filion, son ancienne partenaire et bonne amie] is an analyst. »
Benfeito rules out the possibility of working in the media, but she does not close the door to one day occupying a role within Canada Diving.
“We’ve already talked about it,” she says. […] Maybe in the next few years. I left the dive loving it again. I didn’t hate it. I wasn’t tired. I loved it and I think that’s why I have this healthy relationship with sport. I just don’t want to be a coach. »
When we talk about the Paris Games, Benfeito gives a nostalgic smile while pretending to cry. “Everyone’s going to be there, and I’m just going to be like: [pleurs]. »
One thing is certain, she will be in front of her television to watch this sport which has given her so much and which will always fascinate her. “It might cause a pinch. […] There is nothing in adult life that matches that. »