Carlos Alonso Farrenberg (born 10 January 1980) is a Paralympic swimmer from Brazil competing mainly in category S13 events for partially sighted athletes. Farrenberg has competed at three Paralympic Games beginning with the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. He won his only medal at his home games in Rio in 2016, a silver in the 50 metres freestyle. As well as his Paralympic medal, Farrenberg has also won multiple medals at World Championship level.
Farrenberg was born in São Paulo, Brazil in 1980. He was born with congenital toxoplasmosis which resulted in his vision gradually failing until stabilising at the age of 13 leaving him with 20 percent of normal vision. [3] He was educated at the Faculty of Physical Education in Santos. [3] He is married to Tatyana and they had their first child in 2015. [2]
Farrenberg was introduced to swimming as a child but gave up the sport as a teenager. At University he took up goalball, but then heard of trials for disabled swimmers for the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens and decided to try out. [3] Despite being away from the pool for ten years and with only a month of training, Farrenberg broke three Brazilian swimming records for the S13 class during the trails. [3] These times were not sufficient to allow Farrenberg to qualify for Athens, but it spurred him on to take up swimming professionally again. [3]
He first represented Brazil at the 2006 IPC World Swimming Championships in Durban winning a silver medal in the 100 metre freestyle (S13). [2] Farrenberg competed in his first Summer Paralympics in 2008 in Beijing. He competed in four events, with his best result being a fourth place in the 50 metre freestyle. [2] In 2009 he competed in the IPC World Short Course Championship, held in Brazil. He won five medals including an individual gold in the 100 metre freestyle. [2] The following year he won a bronze in the 2010 World Championships in Eindhoven. [2]
Farrenberg qualified for his second Paralympics in 2012, travelling to London to compete in four events. He managed to get through two of the heats finishing sixth in the 50 metres freestyle and 8th in the 100 metres. [2] In the build-up to the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Brazil, he won a silver in the 50 metre S13 at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow. [2] At the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro he entered just two events, the 50 metre and 100 metre freestyles. [3] He came through the heats of the 100 metres and finished fifth in the finals. In the 50 metres he finished first in his qualifying heat, but his main rival, Ihar Boki of Belarus, set a Paralympic record in his heat. Farrenberg swam a time of 24.27 seconds to win his first Paralympic medal, a silver. [3]
Natalie du Toit OIG MBE is a South African swimmer. She is best known for the gold medals she won at the 2004 Paralympic Games as well as the Commonwealth Games. She was one of two Paralympians to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; the other being table tennis player Natalia Partyka. Du Toit became the third amputee ever to qualify for the Olympics, where she placed 16th in the 10km swim.
Matthew John Cowdrey is an Australian politician and Paralympic swimmer. He presently holds numerous world records. He has a congenital amputation of his left arm; it stops just below the elbow. Cowdrey competed at the 2004 Paralympic Games, 2006 Commonwealth Games, 2008 Paralympic Games, 2010 Commonwealth Games, and the 2012 Paralympic Games. After the 2012 London Games, he is the most successful Australian Paralympian, having won thirteen Paralympic gold medals and twenty three Paralympic medals in total. On 10 February 2015, Cowdrey announced his retirement from swimming.
Matthew "Matt" Benedict Walker MBE is a British swimmer who has participated in four Paralympic Games, winning eleven medals. He competes in the S7, SM7 (medley) and SB7 (breaststroke) classifications.
Daniel de Faria Dias is a Brazilian Paralympic swimmer. Having learnt to swim in 2004 after being inspired by Clodoaldo Silva at the 2004 Summer Paralympics, he entered his first international competition two years later winning five medals. He competed in a wide range of swimming events at the 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020 Paralympics and won 27 medals, including 14 gold medals.
Blake Cochrane, is a retired Australian Paralympic swimmer. He won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, two gold medals at the 2012 London Paralympics, a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, and a silver and one bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Michael Anderson, is an Australian Paralympic swimmer who has won gold, silver and bronze medals at the three Paralympics from 2008 to 2016.
David Malone is known as a bi-lateral amputee swimmer and Paralympic medalist. He participated in four consecutive Paralympic Games, starting with the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. He won gold at the 2000 Summer Paralympics and held the world record for 100-metre backstroke for ten years. He retired from competition in 2008. He currently is the performance director for Paralympics Ireland.
Timothy Antalfy is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in swimming and won a bronze medal.
Taylor Corry is an Australian S14 swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics, she won two silver medals.
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Karolina Pelendritou is a visually impaired swimmer from Cyprus. She has won gold medals and broken records in national and international games as well as winning three gold medals, a silver and two bronze over four Paralympic Games. Due to her achievements she is known as the "Princess of the Pool".
Jonathan Andrew Fox is a British Paralympic swimmer.
Sebastián Rodríguez Veloso is a Spanish Paralympic swimmer. He has competed at four Paralympic Games winning fifteen medals: eight gold, four silver and three bronze. His attendance at the Games was controversial after it was revealed that he had been jailed for bomb attacks while a member of First of October Anti-Fascist Resistance Groups (GRAPO).
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.
Denis Tarasov is a Paralympic swimmer from Russia competing mainly in category S8 events. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London he won five medals, including gold in the 50 metre freestyle S8 event. He has represented Russia at two IPC World Championships with a total of 12 medals. At the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow he set four world records, two as part of Russian relay teams and two individual records, in the 50m and 100m freestyle S8 events.
Frances Williamson is a retired British Paralympic swimmer. Williamson competed in the S3 classification mainly in the freestyle and backstroke preferring shorter distances. She participated in two Summer Paralympic Games winning six medals. At the 2006 IPC World Championships she won three gold medals including the 50m backstroke S3, which she successfully defended four years later at Eindhoven.
David Realista Grachat is a Portuguese para-swimmer, competing in S9 classification events. He has competed at three Summer Paralympic Games, 2008 in Beijing, 2012 in London and 2016 in Rio. Grachat has won medals at both European and World level, and specializes in the 400m freestyle.
Anton Kol is a Ukrainian Paralympic swimmer competing in S1-classification events. He won two silver medals at the 2020 Summer Paralympics held in Tokyo, Japan. He also represented Ukraine at the 2016 Summer Paralympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and he won the bronze medals in the men's 50 metre backstroke S1 and men's 100 metre backstroke S1 events.
Thijs van Hofweegen is a Dutch Paralympic swimmer with cerebral palsy. He is a silver medalist at the 2016 Summer Paralympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and a gold medalist in several events at the 2018 World Para Swimming European Championships held in Dublin, Ireland. He also won the bronze medal in the men's 50 metre freestyle S6 event at the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships held in Madeira.
Curtis Lovejoy was an American Paralympic swimmer. In 2000, he won the gold medal in the men's 50 metre freestyle S2 and the men's 100 metre freestyle S2 events at the 2000 Summer Paralympics held in Sydney, Australia. He also won two medals in swimming at the 2004 Summer Paralympics held in Athens, Greece. He also competed in wheelchair fencing.
