A little less than four months after her last Olympic dive, Jennifer Abel retires at the age of 30.
The Montrealer announced her decision on Tuesday morning in a letter entitled “Letter to the little Métis girl who wanted to dive”. She did so by passing on a happy news: she is pregnant.
“We will have spoken often, you and I, alone in our room in the Olympic Village in Tokyo,” wrote Abel in this letter which she addressed to herself, a little girl just starting out in diving.
Abel has spent half of his life diving at the highest level on the international stage. She has competed in four Olympic Games, winning two medals in synchronized diving. She shone at six FINA World Championships, where she won a total of 10 medals, the highest for an athlete from Canada.
Four Commonwealth Games medals, three Pan American Games, seven World Cup podiums, 68 on the World Series circuit: Abel has built one of the most enviable records in Canadian diving history.
A powerful and dynamic athlete, she stood out for her impetus on the 3-meter springboard, her specialty after a debut on the platform.
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, PRESS ARCHIVES
Jennifer Abel in action at the Tokyo Olympics
Daughter of a father born in Haiti and a mother from Quebec, Jennifer Abel began diving to follow in her brother’s footsteps at the Père-Marquette pool in the Rosemont district. At first glance, his choice was not obvious.
“Before you, there were few Métis girls in diving,” she recalls in her letter. Maybe because they’ve been told like you that black girls are found in athletics or basketball, and not at the pool. But you, your dream was to dive. You fell in love because your mom always told you that you can do whatever you want in life. And you did not listen to closed minds. ”
She quickly rose through the ranks, missing the Beijing Games final by just one place when she was just 16 years old. She had cried a blow.
Listen to “The Right Words”, a discussion between Jennifer Abel and Danny Desriveaux
Four years later, in London, she won her first Olympic medal, bronze in sync with Émilie Heymans, which she did not want to disappoint. “I had nightmares about it,” she said to Press.
She experienced her most terrible disappointment at the Rio Games, where she finished fourth in both of her events. In sync, she missed the podium by just one point with her teammate, Pamela Ware. To the individual, she was shaking before her final plunge.
Devastated, she thought of giving up the sport on her return. “Are you going to wonder who Jennifer is if she doesn’t win a medal?” she writes. It will take you a while to fall in love with your sport again. But it will be a turning point in your life. It is in adversity that you will learn to know yourself better… and to love yourself more. Not like the athlete; just appreciate the young woman. ”
The cycle for Tokyo turned out to be the most difficult. “The pandemic has been trying, physically and mentally. You will wonder why you get up, why you train and why you push yourself to go all the way. ”
Read the portrait “Jennifer Abel in the rearview mirror”
The one-year postponement of the Tokyo Games forced her to postpone her maternity plan accordingly. However, his new synchro partner, Mélissa Citrini-Beaulieu, and the desire to take charge of all the parameters of his career gave him sufficient energy for the home stretch.
A silver medalist with Citrini-Beaulieu, she was on her way to a first individual podium when she missed her third try in the final. She finished eighth.
PHOTO DMITRI LOVETSKY, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mélissa Citrini-Beaulieu and Jennifer Abel
In front of the journalists, she was torn between laughter and tears. “I asked you to hold my hand before my last one-on-one event,” she explains in her letter. I was scared. I had no more benchmarks, I was exhausted. It’s you, the little Métis girl who wanted to dive who reminded me that the most important thing was to have fun; to smile. That whatever the outcome, I could be proud of myself. ”
“When we got out of the water after our last dive, we knew straight away that it was the end of it. The little girl had lived her passion to the end and she passed the torch to the other Jennifer, so that she could continue on her way. ”
This route will be combined with motherhood. Abel is pregnant with professional boxer David Lemieux, who asked for her hand at the airport on his return from Tokyo.
“Eyes full of water and a light heart”, she says she is ready for the next step.
“My life as an athlete prepared me for my adult life and, now, my new life as a mom. I know today how to forgive myself after a failure, where to go to draw my strength in the face of adversity and with what energy one must work to succeed. ”