Saskatoon mother and daughter experiencing Paris Olympics together

For Saskatoon diving coach Mary Carroll, the Paris Olympics will be a very special event.

It’s the fifth time she’s attending the Olympic Games. She competed in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics as a diver for Canada, attended two subsequent events as a broadcaster and is at her second Olympics as a diving coach with Saskatoon’s Rylan Wiens and Margo Erlam.

This time around, Carroll will be adding an extra responsibility to her to-do list, as she’ll also be acting as the personal cheerleader for the Canadian artistic swimming team. Her 21-year-old daughter Sydney will be serving as an alternate for the team at her very first Olympics.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Sydney when asked about what it was like to qualify for the games.

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“I’ve been dreaming and working towards this moment since I found out my mom went to the Olympics when I saw her tattoo on her ankle and asked her what that was. I think having this experience and being there will be a dream come true.”

Sydney said she noticed her mom’s Olympic tattoo when she was six years old, and the dream of following in her footsteps helped Sydney set out her own goal.

Listen to Mary and Sydney Carroll on Behind the Headlines:

Fast forward to 2024, and Sydney and Mary were both in a position to go to the Olympics at the same venue.

According to Sydney, while she and her team were in the pool preforming, Carroll was watching and coaching Wiens as he tried to qualify for the games himself. The 22-year-old Wiens finished third in the men’s 10-metre synchronized diving event, along with his partner, Nathan Zsombor-Murray, to claim the bronze medal.

They both qualified, and Sydney said it led to a great moment after the competition.

“After we qualified, my family group chat was going crazy because my mom was in the middle of Rylan’s event,” she explained.

“My mom was probably 200 metres away from me, but she was in her own competition. Afterwards, we were on the same bus and I just remember sprinting out from the swimming pool straight to my mom and we saw each other and we couldn’t stop talking. We were excited for all of us.”

Carroll said when she was raising Sydney they wanted to try and keep her away from the diving board and get her doing her own thing instead.

“I never tried to make her a diver. The one thing I wanted to do as a mom is I didn’t want my children to feel any pressure from me because I was an Olympian, and I thought the easiest way of doing that was not let them be in the sport of diving,” she explained.

“It’s not that I didn’t allow them to be in the sport of diving, but it was never kind of offered to them unless they asked.”

Carroll and her husband signed Sydney and her brother up for gymnastics when they were young. Sydney participated in that sport until she was 11, but then wanted to try a different sport after the demands on her time became too much to handle.

That’s where Sydney found artistic swimming and, eventually, her own path the Olympic Games.

“I always wanted to do something different than my parents and not quite follow the diving route, but (be) close to the water. I tried it out and really enjoyed it and how different it was,” she explained.

At the games, Sydney will be an extra on the artistic swim team.

It’s unlikely she will get to be in the pool, but that doesn’t mean her job will be an easy one. She has to know everybody’s position and all the moves on the team in case someone can’t compete, but she said she’s more than OK with that.

“I need to make sure I know every single formation and spot on the team. There’s eight athletes swimming at the same time, but each athlete has a different movement and a different count and formation change,” she said. “I need to make sure I am able to know that spot and keep the consistency, It’s my favourite part, and I love that team aspect of the spot.”

Sydney may or may not spend time in the pool in Paris, but her mother said she’ll probably be more nervous watching the artistic swim team than her own divers.

“I feel I have a little more control over my athletes coaching than my daughter, because I know absolutely nothing about artistic swimming. I’m going to be there in full support and cheering that whole team on,” Carroll explained.

“With my athletes I’m always nervous, but I think that sometimes if I say the right thing I see them dive really well. With my daughter, I’m more just up in the stands cheering loudly because that’s my daughter.”

Although there might be nerves at play, the pair said they’re incredibly excited to spend time together at one of the biggest events in the world.

“Seeing my daughter in the athletes’ village, I think that is one of first thing I want to do when I get there and walk around. Let’s check this thing out together and she’ll take a bunch of selfies,” Carroll laughed. “I’m pretty excited about all of it.”