Thirteen-year-old Emilie Tanguay was born with down syndrome. She has been swimming with the Smoky River Manatees Swim Club of Falher throughout the summer with amazing results. Emilie finished first in two of her events in meets and was invited to the provincial championships where she finished in third place.

Thirteen-year-old Emilie Tanguay has always been the apple of her mom and dad’s eye, but her stellar performance in the pool this summer has opened others’ eyes to what an amazing child she is. Diane Bordeleau, Emilie’s mom, says that she was born with Down Syndrome. She explains that Emilie has very poor muscle tone and requires a lot of training for her muscle and extra time in the pool. “Parents that have a down syndrome child have to commit themselves to helping the child as much as possible,” says Diane. “Her low muscle tone makes her have to work 100 times more for whatever she wants compared to other children. She needs to be pushed in order for her to learn something new.” Emilie began swimming with the Smoky River Manatees swim club last year. She participated twice each week in practise. Diane explains that this year she practised every week and joined in competitions. “Emilie had a lot of help from her big sister Sabrina, as well as other Manatees Michelle Leger and Marina Sanchez,” says Diane. “Lise Cote, the coach, was really nice to let me stay to help Emilie learn how to swim. Everybody was so helpful teaching her, and helping her to become a good swimmer.” Diane says that Emilie is smiling the entire time she is in the pool. She commented that an announcer in Peace River dubbed Emile as “happy Tanguay”. Diane recounted a heart-warming moment this summer when Emilie was competing in her first swim meet in High Level. Diane explains that Emilie was completing the 100m Freestyle along other children her age. The others finished before she had completed two of the four laps. Three swimmers proceeded to wait for Emilie to reach the wall, then turned with her and swam the final two laps alongside her. Diane says that the three girls were encouraging Emilie for the remainder of the laps. “All the swim clubs were really good with Emilie this year, encouraging her, being supportive of her, and being incredibly friendly,” says Diane. Diane explains that Emilie’s swimming time has improved drastically over the last few months. At the beginning of the year her 100 m time was 3:58:53 and 50 m was 2:00:31. At the end of the summer those times dropped to 3:00:24 and 1:17. Emilie was proud of herself when she won two gold medals at the Peace River Regional swim meet. She also won an award for most aggregate points. As a result she was invited to provincials where she finished in fourth place. Diane says that no one was more proud of Emilie than her big sister Sabrina. She dubs Sabrina as loving, mature, responsible, willing to do anything for Emilie, and nurturing. “Sabrina wants to train Emilie for the Special Olympics. She says that when Emilie joins the Olympics that she will go as her coach,” explains Diane. “We have four years to get her ready to compete.”’ Diane explains that above all else, Emilie is happiest when she is in the pool. Her family is committed to helping Emilie to pursue whatever dreams she has. Diane says that her family is very thankful for the Manatees swim club members, as well as the town who worked very hard to open the pool, despite a shortage of workers. There is no doubt Emilie is amazing, proving no matter one’s disabilities, goals can be set and reached with hard work and perseverance.