Quick Facts
Biography
Sylvie Fréchette, MSC (born 27 June 1967 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian former synchronized swimmer. She is the 1992 Olympic champion in the women's solo event.
Career
Fréchette competed in the women's solo at the 1992 Summer Olympics. In the technical figures routine, a Brazilian judge accidentally entered a score of 8.7 instead of 9.7, costing her first place; after several appeals by the Canadian Olympic Committee, her medal was upgraded to gold. Kristen Babb-Sprague, the beneficiary of the judge's error, was allowed to keep her gold medal.
Fréchette's success in the pool continued with a silver medal in the women's team event at the following Olympics. In 1999, she was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. She has also contributed as a swimmer, designer, and coach to the synchronized-swimming portions of Cirque du Soleil's water-based stage production O, which opened in 1998 at the Bellagio hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In 2006, Fréchette became an ambassador for Oxfam.
Personal
Sylvie Frechette was engaged to her business partner Sylvain Lake, but he committed suicide a week before the 1992 Games. Lake was a television track analyst and former 400m track athlete. Today she lives with her husband and two children in Prévost, Quebec.