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Jardin latest 2012 Olympian to announce retirement

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After falling short in her valiant effort to get back on the national team despite being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, Barbara Jardin is the latest 2012 Olympian to announce her retirement from competitive swimming.

Jardin showed her promise with a 10th-place finish in the 200-m freestyle during her Olympic debut in London, while also helping Canada to a fourth-place finish in the 4×200-m freestyle relay. The Montreal native did everything she could to keep swimming at a high level after the diagnosis threatened to end her career in 2014. Symptoms such as constant thirst, dehydration, and oversleeping had her close to quitting. But once she was diagnosed, she was able to manage the condition and continue training, thanks in part to an insulin pump.

“When I found out, I really wasn’t feeling well and I was debating whether I should continue,” says Jardin, 25. “The doctors didn’t tell me I couldn’t do it, but said I should take it easy. Knowing me, I’m a little stubborn and I wasn’t going to take it easy.”

Jardin went on to represent Canada at the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju, South Korea, where she swam in three finals, including a fifth-place finish in the 200-m backstroke. She took her best shot at making a second Olympic team at Trials in April. Jardin pushed herself to the limit to qualify for the 800-m final in 10th, nearly collapsing from exhaustion afterwards. She recovered to swim even faster in the final, finishing seventh, but well outside the Olympic qualification standards.

“In swimming we have one qualification and it’s hit or miss. It’s like studying like crazy for an exam and you get a horrible mark, you kind of have to accept it,” she said. “But the way I saw the girls swim this summer and even the guys I was just too happy for Canada to wallow about it all. Of course a little part of me said it would have been nice, but I knew I didn’t perform the way everyone else did at the time and I accepted it.”

While ultimately falling short of her goal to qualify for Rio 2016, she proved to herself and others that swimming at a high level is still possible for someone with diabetes. In the process, she used her platform to inspire youth as a spokeswoman for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

“People message me and say, ‘Hey my daughter is 12 years old and just got diagnosed.’ And they’re swimmers or in sports and ask if I have any advice. It’s nice to know I can help them with their situation,” she says.

She’s now taking courses at Concordia University with a goal of applying to a nursing program, while working part-time at the Institut National du Sport du Québec.

Jardin’s retirement adds to a growing list of London 2012 Olympians moving on to the next stages of their lives. Brittany MacLean recently announced her retirement, and at least three others did so earlier in the year:

Samantha Cheverton – One of Cheverton’s best memories came at the 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Trials, when she and Jardin made the team together in their hometown of Montreal. She came 11th in the 200-m freestyle in London, and teamed with Jardin, Amanda Reason and MacLean for that fourth-place 4×200 relay finish.

“Now that I know it’s over I’ve really been reflecting back and appreciating all the moments I’ve had. London, especially the 800 free relay was such a great experience for all of us. We swam better than we thought we were going to and placed higher than we thought we were going to,” says Cheverton, 28.

She remained a key part of the 4×200 relay in 2014, which earned silver at Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and bronze at Pan Pacific Championships in Gold Coast, Australia. She takes pride in her contributions to that relay, which saw MacLean team with Penny Oleksiak, Katerine Savard, Taylor Ruck, Kennedy Goss and Emily Overholt to earn a bronze medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

“That was a super great experience for me, especially the Commonwealth Games silver medal,” she says. “That relay specifically while I was there, kind of turned the corner to really being one of the better relays for Canada. That happened while I was there so that was a special opportunity where I was on the national team for five years, trained with the veterans who were still around and also trained and competed with people on this year’s team.”

In 2015 Cheverton married Justin Farra, an attorney and fellow former Ohio State University varsity swimmer. They live in Columbus, Ohio, where she has been coaching with the Ohio State Swim Club.

Tera Van Beilen – All eyes were on the Oakville, Ont., native in London, where she took on Alia Atkinson in a swim-off for the eighth and final spot in the 100-m breaststroke. She lost by just 0.06 seconds to finish ninth, a strong result that put her in the international spotlight. She also helped Canada to bronze in the medley relay at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Her other career highlights included attending the Summit of the Americas in Panama as the guest of then Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

“The friendships I’ve created within the swimming community, the support staff that helped me along the way, that is something so special to me,” says Van Beilen, 23. “Relationships are huge in my life and that’s something that I will never take for granted.”

Van Beilen recently graduated with a degree in kinesiology from the University of British Columbia, where she served on the Athletes Council. She held a similar position with Swimming Canada’s Athletes Council. She’s taking some time to travel the world, including a road trip from Vancouver back to Oakville, and plans to volunteer overseas.

Zsofi Balazs – The Torontonian was the first woman to swim open water for Canada at the Olympics, and has now moved on to a career with the Toronto Police Service.

“Policing is great,” says Balazs, whose family emigrated from Hungary in 2004, when she was 13. “It was a good time to move on and start a new career. I was lucky the two overlapped, I didn’t have to finish swimming, sit on the couch and say, ‘OK what’s next?’ It made the transition very smooth and I didn’t have the retirement blues like some people speak of. I love it as much as I did swimming and I put just as much effort into it.”

She finished 17th in the 10-km marathon in London, but what she did to get there may stand out as an even bigger highlight. She produced an extraordinary final lap and finished sixth in the FINA Olympic Marathon Swimming Qualifier in Setubal, Portugal, to earn her spot.

“(Coach) Linda (Kiefer) looked at me on the last lap and said, ‘Just (expletive) go.’ I had no recollection of that last lap, just head down going as hard as I could go and moving up like 10 spots,” Balazs recalls. “That’s when everything with Linda, the coaching, the swimming, everything we had been working on since I’d been in the country just came together.”