Decorated Canadian diver Jennifer Abel has announced her retirement from the sport.
Olympic silver and bronze medalist, the 30-year-old from Laval. Que., He also won 10 world championship medals, the most for any Canadian diver.
Abel and Melissa Citrini-Beaulieu won synchronized springboard silver at the Tokyo Olympics in August.
Abel won bronze in the same event at the 2012 Games in London with Emilie Heymans.
Abel ranked fourth in both the individual springboard and the synchronized event in Rio in 2016.
She is engaged to professional boxer David Lemieux.
“My life as an athlete has prepared me for my adult life and now, for my life as an expectant mother,” Abel said in a statement Tuesday.
“Today, I know how to forgive myself after failure, where to draw strength in the face of adversity, and the kind of energy it takes to be successful.”
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Jennifer Abel, Montreal Olympian
Abel won six silver and four bronze medals during his career.
She said in her statement that “there weren’t a lot of mixed-race girls in diving” when she got involved in the sport and that she was told that “black girls are in track and field or basketball, not in the pool.”
Canadian divers Jennifer Abel (left) and Melissa Citrini-Beaulieu dive on their way to winning silver in the women’s 3-meter synchronized springboard jump during the Tokyo Olympics in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday, July 25, 2020.
Frank Gunn CP
But Abel’s dream was to dive.
“I experienced some incredible moments in my career,” he said. “It is time to start a new chapter.”
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