Canadian swimmer Katerine Savard is there for her teammates when they need her most

Most monarch butterflies live somewhere in the neighbourhood of 14 brilliant days. 

Canadian butterfly swimmer Katerine Savard, who is approaching her seventh World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, has been on the national team for 14 years and counting.

She is targeting a fourth Olympic appearance in Paris next summer, which would mean she's about to navigate uncharted waters.

"When I was young, I thought to myself, I love swimming so much that I want to stay as long as I can," Savard said recently after a training session in Montreal.

"I'm still here. I want to be the first woman in swimming in Canada to go to four Olympics. Hopefully I can show everyone that it's still possible to achieve your dream even if you're 30 years old."

Beginning Saturday, Savard is scheduled to compete in the 50 and 100m butterfly events, in addition to the 4x100 and 4x200m freestyle relays.

Savard has done a lot over the course of her remarkable career. She's also undergone a metamorphosis from teenaged star, and butterfly specialist, to reliable team player — a member of the supporting cast for the next generation of headliners like Penny Oleksiak, Maggie Mac Neil, and Summer McIntosh.

A native of Pont-Rouge, Que., she has been one of the standard bearers for French Canadian swimmers, as well as a Commonwealth Games champion, and a many-time national record holder in both long and short course competition.   

But like most butterflies, Savard attracts attention because of her complexity and kaleidoscope of attributes. She's not only an elementary school teacher in Montreal, but once starred in the title role of a movie called Nadia Butterfly, which was an official selection for the Cannes Film Festival in 2020 and the winner of