Cliff Noth remembers the hard work that Dominique put in.
For about a decade Noth was Bouchard’s swim coach with the North Bay Titans.
North Bay’s Olympian will dive in the pool competing in her specialty, the 200 m backstroke as well as the 100 m backstroke.
Bouchard finished in sixth in the 200 m backstroke at the Worlds in Russia in 2015 and then won silver at her featured event at Toronto’s Pan Am Games last summer.
“Anything can happen at this meet,” said Noth in an email to BayToday.ca.
“She is placed high enough that you could consider her a real threat to make finals and I would go as far as saying she is a medal threat. This will be one of her last major meets so she will be digging very deep.”
Noth knows after Bouchard missed out by a fraction of a second of making the Olympic team in 2012, that the 25-year-old is more than ready.
“Her whole life has been focused around her major goal of making the Olympic team,” said Noth.
“She made finals at Worlds last year in Russia and she has showed she compete with the top world ranked swimmers. Her specialty, the 200 back has become one of the deepest events in the sport. Dom has adapted well to compete at this level and has focused her whole life to swim at the Olympics. You have to believe she has a very real chance and she will give her best. She is a very mature athlete and won't let the enormity of the event get in her way of performance.”
Bouchard will begin her Olympic journey on Sunday as the 100 M backstroke, where she won silver at the Olympic qualifier. She takes to the pool for the heats at noon on Sunday and the semi-finals take place at 10:30 p.m. that night. If she makes the final that would take place on Monday at 9:30 p.m.
She will then hit the water in Rio for the 200 M backstroke heats on Thursday, August 11th at 1:30 p.m. and the semi-final to take place that evening at 9:30 p.m.
The 200 M final will take place on August 12th at 9:30 p.m.
