William Émard

Biography

William Émard joined the senior national team in 2018. He has taken part in every FIG World Championships since 2019, culminating in the team’s historic fourth-place finish in the qualification round at the 2023 FIG World Championships, securing Canada’s first men’s team Olympic berth since Beijing 2008. The team went on to finish seventh in the final.

Émard had his taste of individual success at the 2021 FIG World Championships, finishing eighth in the men’s all-around for Canada’s best-ever world championship result in the event. He also qualified for the rings and vault apparatus finals, finishing seventh and eighth respectively. His accomplishment is even more impressive given that he only learned three days prior to qualification that he would be competing on all six apparatus and that he had suffered a partial tear in his left bicep. 

He then had to take time off to rehabilitate the injury, but was lost without having gymnastics as an outlet. Émard quit the sport completely for two months to reset both mentally and physically. He returned to training with fresh focus and motivation. At the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile just after the world championships, he helped the team to a silver medal and qualified for the apparatus finals on parallel bars and horizontal bar. 

At the Elite Canada competition in February 2024, Émard suffered the same injury to his bicep muscle, but this time on his right side. Through focused rehabilitation and training, he was able to come back to compete, almost at full capacity, at the 2024 Canadian Championships where he finished third in the all-around and captured silver on floor exercise and bronze on rings to secure his selection to the team for Paris 2024 – his first Olympic Games.

A Little More About William

Getting into the Sport: Started gymnastics at age 4 and began competing at age 8… Has been training and competing with Félix Dolci and coach Adrian Balan since they were little… Outside Interests: Enjoys reading, watching movies, photography… Working towards a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing at the Université du Québec à Montréal… Odds and Ends: Inspired by Kyle Shewfelt for being the only Canadian artistic gymnast to win an Olympic medal and the way he came back from a major injury to compete at the Olympics… Describes himself as “super perfectionist, which is both his best and worst asset as an athlete… Favourite quote: “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan…