Before Dominique Bouchard left Columbia for Toronto on July 22, she cleaned out her Missouri locker for the final time. The 25-year-old was off to a training camp to prepare for what is almost certainly her last major international swimming competition: the Olympic Games.
Bouchard is one of two Missouri graduates swimming for Canada in Rio. She is joined by Mack Darragh, one of her training partners in the Tigers [post-graduate training group](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2015/10/7/strength-program-keeps-swimmers-mizzou/).
Though Bouchard’s last practice at Missouri was emotional, she said that she was looking forward to the Canadian training camp.
“Just coming together as a team and focusing on what our goals are and how we’re going to achieve them is always really nice,” she said before leaving for Toronto.
Though she missed qualifying for the Canadian Olympic team in 2012, Bouchard has a wealth of international experience. In 2015, she won three medals at the Pan American Games in Toronto and she placed sixth in the 200-meter backstroke at the World Championships in Kazan, Russia.
Darragh has less experience than Bouchard, but he is not a newcomer to international swimming. He swam the 200-meter butterfly at the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships in Gold Coast, Australia, placing sixth.
After winning both the 100- and 200-meter butterfly at Canadian Olympic Trials, Darragh was selected to swim the butterfly leg of Canada’s 400-meter medley relay. He hopes the relay team can make it to the championship heat — the top eight — at the Olympics.
“I think we have a chance at making top eight … and it would be amazing if we made top eight,” he said. “I think that would be a huge accomplishment for us.”
Bouchard is competing in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke events. She also wants to make a championship final and said that her best chance is in the 200-meter race.
“And then once you’re in the final, just kind of take in the atmosphere and anything goes,” she said. “Anybody can make that podium.”
To earn a medal, Bouchard said she will need to drop around two seconds from her best time. She sees this as possible.
“I haven’t had a big, big, big drop for a while, so hopefully that’s something I can work towards,” she said.
Bouchard could also swim the backstroke leg of Canada’s 400-meter medley relay in preliminaries, though she said it is not likely.
Darragh was not expected to win the 100-meter butterfly at Olympic Trials, and he has typically trained for longer-distance races in the past. He is now making adjustments in practice.
“We’ve made changes to the training, working on sprint stuff now, which is pretty much a completely different race,” he said. “I think it’s going well, so far at least.”
Bouchard and Darragh will not be the only Tigers in the pool in Rio. Rising sophomore Mikel Schreuders, swimming for Aruba, will race the 200-meter freestyle at the Olympics.
With three Olympic swimmers coming from Missouri, Darragh feels that the program is heading in a positive direction.
“It just seems like everything is coming together,” he said.
Both Bouchard and Darragh are looking forward to getting to know other athletes at the Olympics. Darragh is excited to see different cultures, and Bouchard is eager to meet other athletes with similar mentalities.
“You are surrounded by people that have the same goals as you,” Bouchard said. “They want to reach the podium, they want to get a medal, they want to do their country proud. And everyone is pretty much on the same page. So that’s what I’m most excited about. Just to be surrounded by so many great athletes is going to be awesome.”
_Edited by Alec Lewis | alewis@themaneater.com_