The swimming events of the 2008 Summer Paralympics were held in the Beijing National Aquatics Center between September 7 and September 15, 2008. A total of 140 gold medals were expected to be distributed. Paralympic records were broken in 122 events, of which the records in 108 events were also world records.
Ellie Victoria Cole, is an Australian retired Paralympic swimmer and wheelchair basketball player. After having her leg amputated due to cancer, she trained in swimming as part of her rehabilitation program and progressed more rapidly than instructors had predicted. She began competitive swimming in 2003 and first competed internationally at the 2006 IPC Swimming World Championships, where she won a silver medal. Since then, she has won medals in the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, the Commonwealth Games, the Paralympic Games, the IPC Swimming World Championships, and various national championships.
S13, SB13, SM13 are disability swimming classifications used for categorising swimmers based on their level of disability. Jane Buckley, writing for the Sporting Wheelies, describes the swimmers in this classification as having: "Swimmers who are the most sighted but are considered to be blind according to the IBSA B3."
Teigan Van Roosmalen is an Australian Paralympic S13 swimmer. She has Usher Syndrome type 1 legally blind and Profoundly deaf. She had a swimming scholarship from the Australian Institute of Sport 2009-2012. Her events are the 100 m breaststroke, 200 m individual medley, 50 m and 100 m freestyle. She competed at the 2011 Para Pan Pacific Championships in Edmonton, where she won a gold medal in the S13 400 freestyle event. She competed at the 2008 Summer and 2012 Summer Paralympics.
Timothy Antalfy is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in swimming and won a bronze medal.
Sean Russo is an Australian swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Hannah Russell, is a British Paralympic swimmer competing in S12 classification events. In 2012, she became British S12 champion in the 100m backstroke and qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games where she won a silver in the 400m freestyle and a bronze in the 100m butterfly. In the 2016 Summer Paralympic Games, she won the gold medal in the 100m backstroke with the time of 1:06:06 earning her the World Record.
The women's 100m backstroke S13 event at the 2008 Summer Paralympics took place at the Beijing National Aquatics Center on 14 September. There were two heats; the swimmers with the eight fastest times advanced to the final.
Walter Wu is an S13 classified Canadian swimmer who has competed and set records at the 1996, 2000, and 2004 Summer Paralympics. He won 14 Paralympic medals before retiring in 2004 after the Athens Paralympic Games. His accolades included selection as torch bearer, member of the Terry Fox Hall of Fame, and BC Disabled Athlete of the Year. He has spent time as a public speaker to local schools since retirement from active sports competition.
Brian David Hill is a S13 Canadian para-swimmer who has competed in the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 Summer Paralympics and the 2007 Parapan American Games. He had won five gold medals, three silver medals and 3 bronze medals in his international career. Hill started swimming as a child and competitive swimming at the age of nine. He has won the British Columbia Blind Sports Award and Athlete of the Year Award.
Jenna Jones is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. She has a been selected to compete at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, France.
Katja Dedekind is an Australian Paralympic vision-impaired swimmer and goalball player. She won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games and two bronze medals at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
Liam Bekric is an Australian Paralympic swimmer with a vision impairment. Bekric represented Australia for the first time at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
The women's 100 m backstroke swimming events for the 2016 Summer Paralympics take place at the Rio Olympic Stadium from 8 to 17 September. A total of ten events are contested for ten different classifications.
The men's 100 m backstroke swimming events for the 2016 Summer Paralympics took place at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium from 8 to 17 September. A total of eleven events were contested for eleven different classifications.
The women's 100 metre backstroke S13 event at the 2016 Paralympic Games took place on 17 September 2016, at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium. Two heats were held. The swimmers with the eight fastest times advanced to the final.
The Men's 100 metre backstroke S13 event at the 2016 Paralympic Games took place on 17 September 2016, at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium. Two heats were held. The swimmers with the eight fastest times advanced to the final.
Colleen Young is an American swimmer. She won a bronze medal at the 2016 Paralympic Games. She also won bronze medals in the 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke at the 2015 World Championships She competes in the Paralympic class S13. In 2016 she set a Pan-American record in the 100m breast.
Gia Pergolini is an American Paralympic swimmer who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
