Caroline Brunet began kayaking at the age of eleven and made the Canadian national team in 1987. She first represented her nation as a senior at that year’s Summer Olympics, but finished last in her heat in the K1-500 and failed to qualify for the finals in the K4-500 (alongside Barb Olmsted, Nancy Olmsted, and Sheila Taylor). She had improved by the 1992 Games, finishing 7th in the K1-500 and 6th in the K4-500 (with Alison Herst, Klara MacAskill, and Kevyn Stafford), and won her first World Championship medal, bronze in the K1-500, in 1993. After earning bronze twice more, in the K1-200 and the K4-200 (alongside Herst, MacAskill, and Corrina Kennedy) at the 1994 World Championships, she had a breakthrough year in 1995, winning the K4-200 title (with Herst, Kennedy, and Marie-Josée Gibeau-Ouimet) and silver medals in the K1-200 and K1-500 at the World Championships. She followed up on her success with silver in the K1-500 at the 1996 Summer Olympics, losing the gold medal to Rita Kőbán of Hungary by just 0.2 seconds, but earning Canada’s first canoeing podium finish since 1984.
Brunet was dominant at the next three World Championships, winning the K1-200, 500, and 1000 titles each year, except in 1998, when she was second in the K1-1000 behind Josefa Idem-Guerrini. She also captured silver in the K2-500 in 1999 alongside Karen Furneaux, the same year she was awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s most outstanding athlete. Expectations for her were high at the 2000 Summer Olympics, where she served as her nation’s flagbearer in the opening ceremony. She lost the K1-500 gold medal to Idem-Guerrini, this time by just over 0.8 seconds, and came in 5th in the K2-500 with Furneaux.
Following these Games, Brunet’s long career began to wind down. She took home silver medals in the K-1 200 and K-1 500 at the 2002 World Championships and won the K-1 200 a final time in 2003, in addition to a bronze medal in the K2-1000 alongside Mylanie Barré. She retired after the 2004 Summer Olympics, in which she won a bronze medal in the K1-500, behind Natasa Douchev-Janics and Idem-Guerrini, and finished 7th in the K2-500 with Barré. She was made a member of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.
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