Four Quebec women will represent Canada in women’s water polo at the Paris Olympic Games, Water Polo Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee announced Thursday.
They are Axelle Crevier, Élyse Lemay-Lavoie and Clara Vulpisi, each from Montreal, and Serena Browne, from Pointe-Claire. Canada qualified for the Paris Games following the World Aquatics Championships.
Crevier is the daughter of Olympian Marie-Claude Deslières, who was part of Canada’s first-ever women’s Olympic water polo team at the Sydney 2000 Games.
“The official selection of our team brings us closer to the start of the Olympic Games,” Crevier said in a press release. “We are very eager to begin the competition and we are preparing tirelessly for Paris. In Paris, the atmosphere will definitely be different than in Tokyo since we will have the chance to experience the Games with spectators, friends and family.”
Seven polo players will be competing in their second Olympic Games in Paris, having competed in Tokyo 2021, while six athletes will be making their first appearances. Additionally, 11 athletes were part of the team that won silver at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. They include Emma Wright, the captain of the women’s water polo team.
“The team has been working very hard leading up to the Olympics,” Wright said in a statement. “We’ve made a lot of progress collectively and we hope to show that at the Games.”
The Canadian women’s water polo team will be competing in the Olympic Games for the fourth time in history, following its addition to the Olympic program at the Sydney 2000 Games. The team’s best result came in the sport’s debut in Australia, where the Canadians finished fifth.
The women’s water polo matches will take place from July 27 to August 11 at the Olympic Aquatic Center and the Paris La Défense Arena.