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Speaker

Kira Toussaint

Kira Toussaint, former elite athlete and Olympian, shows what it takes to perform under pressure and regain your direction after setbacks. Drawing on her personal experiences in top-level sport, she speaks about mental strength, resilience, goal setting and personal leadership. Her down-to-earth and energetic style makes her story relatable and practical, with concrete techniques that participants can apply directly in their work and everyday lives.

  • Rate indication: € 2,500 to € 3,499
  • Available for booking as: Day chairman Speaker Panelist
  • Languages: Dutch English
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About Kira Toussaint

Kira Toussaint is a former elite swimmer, Olympian and European record holder who translates twelve years with TeamNL into lessons on mental strength, personal agency and performing under pressure. She competed in four Olympic finals, became European champion and broke the world record in the 50-meter backstroke in 2020. Her career was not only marked by highlights. A false-positive doping test brought everything to a standstill in 2018, after which she had to reinvent herself. Since retiring from professional swimming in 2025, Kira has shared her experiences with mental health, resilience and performance. On stage, she is down-to-earth, personal and concrete. No abstract theory, but stories and techniques she used herself when it mattered most.

Kira Toussaint on performing under pressure

Swimming a final while thousands of people watch requires more than physical fitness. Kira knows what it feels like to perform under maximum pressure. In her talks, she shares how she mentally prepares for important races, deals with expectations and talks to herself when the pressure is on.

She translates her experiences into practical techniques. For example, she shares how a short power pose helped her approach a final with greater confidence and which five words helped her stay in the moment during a race. This makes Kira’s insights on mental strength practical and applicable for teams and professionals.

From setback to resilience

Kira’s story becomes even more compelling through the periods when her carefully built career suddenly came to a standstill. In 2018, she was sent home after a positive doping test. Further investigation later showed that it was a false positive caused by permitted medication. The international swimming federation dropped the case in March 2019.

The experience had a major impact, but ultimately became an important part of her personal development. Kira speaks openly about uncertainty, shame, starting over and choosing to stand up for yourself when circumstances are beyond your control. This makes her story particularly relevant to organizations working on resilience, mental health and sustainable performance.

From elite sport to personal growth

Since retiring from professional swimming, Kira has focused in part on mental health in sport and on making the relationship between the menstrual cycle and sport more openly discussed. She is also an ambassador for the Johan Cruyff Foundation.

Outside the pool, she deliberately seeks out situations where she is a beginner again. She uses her experiences with marathon running to show what happens when you are not yet good at something. For professional audiences, this is relatable: experience creates confidence, but growth often begins when you temporarily let go of that certainty.

Kira can be booked as a speaker, moderator and panelist in Dutch and English. Her talks can cover themes such as:

  • mental strength and resilience
  • performing under pressure
  • personal leadership
  • goal setting and focus
  • growth mindset
  • mental health
  • collaboration and team goals
  • dealing with setbacks and change

Themes

Sessions

What do you do when you are up against someone who looks better than you on paper? Kira knows that moment. In this keynote, she shares how she performed under extreme pressure, but also how she bounced back from major setbacks. She shows how body language can influence your confidence, how to stay focused when the pressure is on, and what it takes to regain your direction after a setback. Participants take away three practical techniques: a posture for high-pressure moments, focus words to help them stay present, and a way to keep long-term goals in sight. Kira’s style is down-to-earth and personal, and she ends with the entire audience standing in the posture that started her story.

Kira was already competing internationally when her new coach showed her that she couldn’t float properly. “I can’t do it,” she said. His response: “Not yet.” From that moment, she began looking at talent and development differently. What you can do today doesn’t determine your potential, but what you are willing to learn does. In this keynote, Kira talks about getting one percent better every day, accepting feedback and putting your ego aside to truly grow. She shows how patience and perseverance make a difference, especially on the days when progress is hard to see. Audiences leave with a simple but powerful question: what limits are you placing on yourself by believing you can’t do something? Maybe the answer is: not yet.

For three years, Kira had a note on her fridge with one goal: 58.8 seconds in the 100-meter backstroke. Her personal best was 1:00.25, and for four seasons, her time didn’t improve. Still, the note stayed. In April 2021, she swam 58.6. In this keynote, Kira explains how to turn a big goal into concrete steps, especially when progress stalls. She shows why it is important not to focus only on the outcome, but also to enjoy the process. Drawing on her experiences in elite sport, she offers a different perspective on goals and targets: not as a number you either achieve or miss, but as a direction that guides your daily choices.

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