HIGH ACHIEVERS: Canadian women’s water polo goalkeeper Jessica Gaudreault retires, joins Ottawa Police Service

By Martin Cleary

For the past 13 years, Ottawa’s Jessica Gaudreault has had one main objective with the Canadian senior women’s water polo team – stop the ball from entering the net.

But the goalkeeper, who was developed through the Capital Wave and Ottawa Titans programs, has decided to put a stop to her extensive and accomplished water polo career and head into the direction of stopping crime.

Gaudreault, 31, announced last week she has retired from the national senior women’s water polo team, which has seen her represent Canada at the Summer Olympics, three Pan American Games, six world championships and six FINA world league super finals.

“After 13 years representing Canada with the senior women’s national water polo team … I am excited to share that I am beginning a new chapter with the Ottawa Police Service,” Gaudreault posted on LinkedIn last week.

“As I transition into this new career, I am excited to continue serving my community in a different capacity and to apply the skills I developed as a high-performance athlete to this next challenge.

“While stepping away from a sport that has been such a significant part of my life is not easy, I am incredibly grateful for the experiences, relationships and lessons that water polo has given me over the past 13 years.”

In the beginning, Gaudreault thought she might be a swimmer, but when that didn’t work out, she stayed in the water and switched to water polo at age 12. Two years later, she was being scouted as a potential national team player, as Titans head coach David Hart turned her into a goalkeeper because her strong legs allowed her to explode out of the water and she had great vertical and horizontal movements.

She had a full career with the Canadian side, travelling around the world to every major championship in youth, junior, university and senior women’s water polo. In 2022-23 and 2024-25, Gaudreault also played professional women’s water polo in Spain for Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Terrassa respectively and served an eight-month stint as an assistant water polo coach at the University of Michigan in 2022.

The Summer Olympics were an important and interesting part of her career as she was the surprise alternate for the 2020 Tokyo Games, which were delayed one year to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the starter for the 2024 Paris Games.

Following the Tokyo Olympics, she knew she had to take her game to the next level and did so by coaching at the University of Michigan and playing professionally in Spain. She believed being an Olympian was about playing all the games and not serving as an out-of-pool alternate.

Read More: Water polo goalie Jessica Gaudreault ready for high point of rollercoaster ride to the Olympics

At the Paris Olympics, she was in goal for all seven games as Canada finished eighth with a 1-6 record. But Gaudreault was ranked third among all goalkeepers in total goals and saves with 58 stops off 138 shots for an accuracy rating of 42 per cent. She also tied for third in steals at six.

“Elite sport has shaped who I am in countless ways,” Gaudreault continued on LinkedIn. “It taught me how to perform under pressure, communicate effectively in high-stakes situations, adapt quickly to changing circumstances and remain committed to a goal even when the path forward is difficult.

“Most importantly, it taught me the value of teamwork, resilience and service to something larger than myself.”

In the two years ahead of the Olympics, Gaudreault helped Canada win silver medals at three Pan American Games in Santiago, Lima and Toronto.

At the Pan American championships, she picked up gold medals with her Canadian teammates in 2023 and 2015.

Gaudreault played in six world women’s water polo championships and came within one spot of winning an elusive medal, after placing fourth in 2017 in Hungary.

At the recent 2026 World Cup women’s division 2 championship in Malta, she earned her final international medal with a bronze.

She found great success at the FINA women’s water polo world league super final, capturing a silver medal in 2017 and finishing fourth in 2021. At the same championship, she also had one sixth-place result and three seventh-place finishes.

Following the 2017 super final, she was voted the best goalkeeper in the world and named to the all-star team. That same year, Gaudreault also earned her third bronze medal at the FINA Intercontinental Cup preliminary tournament. She helped Canada go one step better during the main Intercontinental Cup tournament in Peru with a silver medal.

She was twice named the world’s best goalkeeper, after two separate international championships.

While Gaudreault was working on her fine arts degree at Indiana University, she played for Canada at the 2013 FISU Universiade Games, which led to a fourth-place result.

In her two World Aquatics championship appearances, she was on the Canadian roster for an eighth-place result in 2024 and seventh in 2023.

Gaudreault earned a berth on the Canadian senior women’s team, after an accomplished junior and youth career.

As a junior, she celebrated gold medals for Canada at the 2010 and 2008 Pan American championships and ninth-place results at the 2013 and 2011 world championships.

She was in goal when Canada placed fifth at the 2012 World Aquatics youth championships.