At the height of her considerable accomplishments her swimming buddies often called her Alexander The Great. It is a most fitting monicker for the Mississauga synchronized swimmer who had gone on from the obscurity of a learn-to-swim program at the Huron Park Recreation Centre’s pool to rule Canada and conquer much of her aquatic world.

     Lisa Alexander’s natural abilities and relentless desire to succeed allowed her to rise to great heights. During her 12 years as member of Canada’s national synchro swim team Alexander won an Olympic silver medal (1966 in Atlanta); three World Cup silvers (1965 in Atlanta); a silver and a bronze in the 1991 world championships (in Perth, Australia); two bronze and a silver in the 1994 world championships (in Rome); solo and duet golds in the Commonwealth Games (1994); a pair of silvers in the Pan American Games (1995); two golds, along with a special prize for winning the figures, in the prestigious Rome Open (1995); and Canadian national championship titles (solo three times, duet twice and team three times).

     With Olympic and world champions Helen Vanderburg, Carolyn Waldo and Sylvie Frechette all retired, the task of keeping Canada in the forefront of international synchronized swimming was passed on to Alexander. “They’re quite big shoes to fill, but I feel pretty confident,” Alexander said prior to providing proof that she was not just willing but also capable of carrying the torch. In her international debut at the 1994 Commonwealth Games she first became individual champion, then about an hour-and-a-half later partnered with Mississauga-born Erin Woodley to swim to another gold medal in duet. She had continued to fill those “quite big shoes” admirably until her Atlanta silver-medal swan song in ’96.

     Out of the pool, Alexander was athlete representative to Synchro Canada’s board of directors, active speaker on behalf of the Commonwealth Games Association and for the Ontario Government’s FAME (Female Athletes Motivating Excellence) program; spokesperson for the Mississauga Hospital Foundation’s Heart for Life fundraising drive; and the Canadian Olympic Committee’s athletes’ representative for the Toronto 2008 Olympic Bid. Somewhere along the way, she also managed to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Western Ontario.