Canadian Paralympic Sport Awards: Aurélie Rivard wins team-leading five medals in Tokyo

One of the world’s very best Para swimmers for years now, Aurélie Rivard certainly showed she is still at the top of her game with five medals at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, the most of any Canadian athlete at the Games.

Rivard claimed gold medals in the women’s S10 100m freestyle and 400m freestyle, both in world record times. She added silver in the 100m backstroke as well as bronze in the 50m freestyle and 4x100m freestyle relay.

“When I compete, I don’t think about [awards or accolades], I just focus on myself and do the best I can,” said Rivard on winning Best Female Athlete. “When it comes with such a big reward, it makes everything feel better, all the efforts and the work I put in are being recognized.”

“Tokyo was so different than my other experiences in Rio and London for obvious reasons, so it was probably the hardest road to a Games before. It was really hard to see any positive outcomes from these Games [before the Games] – I feel like everything was more negative, we didn’t have anybody in the stands, the pressure was really high, certain athletes gave up on the road. Everything was unsure, and so I just never expected to win an award from Tokyo like this one and I’m just super grateful.”

Rivard now has captured 10 Paralympic medals through her three Games appearances (London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020).

Tokyo 2020 Canadian Paralympic Sport Awards

Best Paralympic Debut by a Female Athlete – Kate O’Brien
Best Paralympic Debut by a Male Athlete – Nate Riech
Best Team Performance – Women’s Sitting Volleyball
Best Male Athlete – Brent Lakatos
Best Female Athlete – Aurélie Rivard

The Canadian Paralympic Sport Awards recognize outstanding athlete and team performances at the Paralympic Games. For more information visit Paralympic.ca/Sport-Awards.