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Julie Brousseau celebrates her Olympic qualification at the 2024 Canadian Olympic Swimming Trials. Photo via Swim Ontario/Facebook.

613 in Paris: Ottawa’s Julie Brousseau fulfilling an Olympic-sized dream in Paris

By Kiefer Uuksulainen on July 26, 2024

“613 in Paris” is our nine-part series profiling Olympic athletes representing Ottawa-Gatineau at Paris 2024. These written interviews, conducted ahead of the competition, delve into each athlete’s experience with pandemic-era training, inspiration and community support, competition-day routines and rituals, and key elements to watch for in their respective sports.

Julie Brousseau makes her Olympic debut in Paris. Perhaps it was destiny—after all, you can’t spell “Brousseau” without “eau”—the French word for water.

Julie Brousseau celebrates her Olympic qualification at the 2024 Canadian Olympic Swimming Trials. Photo via Swim Ontario/Facebook.

Apt613 connected with the 18-year-old swimmer in Ottawa for a written interview before she departed for the 2024 Summer Olympics. In the interview, Brousseau reminds herself to “be grateful,” applauds her support system, and shares the pre-race food that powers her performance.

Responses have been edited for clarity and length.

A young Julie Brousseau poolside. The swimmer will again find herself poolside this summer for her Olympic debut in Paris. Photo via Nepean Kanata Barracudas.

Brousseau first took to the water at her family’s cottage in Norway Bay, a municipality 70 kilometres northwest of Ottawa. From those earliest ripples, an Olympic-sized dream swelled.

Brousseau always envisioned representing Canada on the world stage: “I would think about wanting to make the [Canadian] national team one day.” At 16, she took home eleven medals at the 2022 Canada Summer Games—tying the record for most medals won at a single Canada Games. Her first taste of international success came a year later at the 2023 World Juniors, where she racked up seven medals for Team Canada.

One month after World Juniors, the young phenom competed as a senior at the Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games, taking home three more medals, including two gold. She’ll be looking to add more hardware to her collection as a part of Team Canada’s swim relay squad this summer in Paris.

“The atmosphere is much more competitive now that I’m older,” says Brousseau. “Seeing my teammates do the same sets [as me] every day helps me know we’re all doing it together.” The swimmer primarily trains with the Nepean Kanata Barracudas, a transition she made during the pandemic when the club permitted pool time for high-performance athletes.

This most recent training block felt more normal for the swimmer. “Now is definitely different than [during the pandemic] as I have been able to attend many preparation meets,” says Brousseau. “I remind myself to be grateful for the chance to swim since I wasn’t able to a few years ago due to Covid lockdowns.”

Julie Brousseau and her coach, Scott Faithfull, at the 2023 World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships. Photo via nkbswimming/Instagram.

“[Nepean Kanata Barracudas] have done everything to get me here, especially my coach Scott [Faithfull],” says Brousseau. “He and the club have given so much to help me reach this level. [HW Health and Sport Science Rehab and Performance Centre] have also helped with [my] injuries and strength.”

It’s easy to forget that most 18-year-olds are writing final high school exams, not testing themselves on the world stage. Brousseau commends the educators who helped balance her school work with her pool work. “My teachers have been accommodating when I was missing [school]—sometimes weeks at a time—especially Nadia Amimi, who ensured I wasn’t falling behind.” Brousseau will attend the University of Florida in the Fall.

Brousseau, third from left, with fellow Paris-bound swimmers, Summer McIntosh, Mary-Sophie Harvey, and Emma O’Croinin at the 2024 Canadian Olympic Swim Trials. Photo via emmaocroinin/Instagram.

Brousseau provided a little insight into her competition-day routine. “I like to eat pasta before races. I’ll talk to my friends [doubling as her teammates] to distract myself before focusing back up on my race and stretching behind the [starting] blocks.”

Brousseau dips into Olympic competition in the Women’s swim relay events, occurring from July 27 to Aug. 4. Brousseau says first-time swimming viewers should “watch the individual medley races. They are the most exciting as the lead changes throughout the strokes.”

Keep an eye out for all athletes representing Ottawa-Gatineau in Paris—those marked with an asterisk (*) have been covered as part of our local Olympian series: