Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Born | Pretoria, South Africa | 5 August 1987|||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Paralympic swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Disability | Multiple sclerosis | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Disability class | S4, SM4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Katherine "Kat" Swanepoel (born 5 August 1987) is a South African Paralympic swimmer who competes at international swimming competitions, she is a double World champion. She competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. [1] [2] [3]
Swanepoel was also a former wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby player before switching to swimming. [4]
The 1964 Summer Paralympics, originally known as the 13th International Stoke Mandeville Games and also known as Paralympic Tokyo 1964, were the second Paralympic Games to be held. They were held in Tokyo, Japan, and were the last Summer Paralympics to take place in the same city as the Summer Olympics until the 1988 Summer Paralympics.
The 1972 Summer Paralympics, the fourth edition of the Paralympic Games, were held in Heidelberg, West Germany, from 2 to 11 August 1972. The games ended 15 days before the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich, also in West Germany.
The Paralympic sports comprise all the sports contested in the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games. As of 2020, the Summer Paralympics included 22 sports and 539 medal events, and the Winter Paralympics include 5 sports and disciplines and about 80 events. The number and kinds of events may change from one Paralympic Games to another.
South Africa sent a team to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China and finished 6th on the medal table.
Elizabeth "Libby" Dudley Kosmala is an Australian shooter with paraplegia. She represented Australia at twelve Paralympics from 1972 to 2016, and won thirteen medals, nine of them gold.
Australia has participated officially in every Paralympic Games since its inauguration in 1960 with the exception of the 1976 Winter Paralympics.
Yip Pin Xiu is a Singaporean backstroke swimmer. She is a six-time Paralympic gold medalist and four-time World Champion, with two world records in the 50 m backstroke S2 and the 100 m backstroke S2. Yip is Singapore's most decorated Paralympian and Southeast Asia's most decorated swimming Paralympian.
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.
Margaret Gardner Maughan was a British competitive archer, dartcher and lawn bowler. She was Britain's first gold medallist at the Paralympic Games, and won four gold and two silver medals at the Games. She lit the cauldron at the Olympic Stadium in London at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
Israel, participated in the inaugural Paralympic Games in 1960 held in Rome, Italy. The 1960 Paralympics, now considered to have been the first Paralympic Games, were initially known as the ninth Stoke Mandeville Games, an event for athletes with disabilities founded in Great Britain in 1948.
Lisa Daniela "Danni" Di Toro is an Australian wheelchair tennis and para table tennis player. Di Toro was the 2010 French Open doubles champion and has also been the Masters double champion. In singles, Di Toro is the former world number one and two time masters finalist. In 2015, she moved to para-table tennis and represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, where she was team captain with Kurt Fearnley. At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, her seventh Paralympics, she was the team captain and Opening Ceremony flag bearer with Ryley Batt. She competed at her eight Paralympics in Paris.
Rosemary Little is an Australian Paralympic athlete. She won a bronze medal in wheelchair racing at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, and has also competed in handcycling. She competed at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, her third Games, where switched from wheelchair racing to shot put. She competed in the shot put and club throw at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Katherine Rose Downie is an Australian Paralympian. Kat first represented Australia in 2011. Kat represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in swimming and was a member of both the Gold medal Women's 34 point 4 x 100 free and 4 × 100 medley relay teams. Kat placed fourth in both her pet events the 100 backstroke and 200IM.
Darda Sales is a Canadian swimmer, 4.0 point wheelchair basketball player and motivational speaker. She won gold medals with the 4x100 medley relay team at the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney and the 2002 IPC Swimming World Championships in Mar del Plata, and a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens. She switched to wheelchair basketball after she retired from swimming in 2009, and won a gold medal in that sport at the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto.
Paige Leonhardt is an Australian swimmer. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, where she won a silver medal and the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Rachael Elizabeth Watson, is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. Watson represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics winning gold in the 50m Freestyle S4, a feat she repeated at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. At the 2024 Paris Paralympics, she won two bronze medals.
Rose Marie Hollermann is an American 3.5 point wheelchair basketball player and member of the United States women's national wheelchair basketball team. She who won gold at the 2011, and 2019 Women's U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship, the 2011, 2015 and 2023 Parapan American Games, and the 2016 Summer Paralympics. She also won bronze at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and the 2022 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships.
Britta Siegers is a retired German wheelchair tennis player and Paralympic swimmer who competed in international level events. She was the first German disabled athlete to compete in two different sports at the Paralympics: she was a swimmer from 1984 to 1992 and returned twelve years later as a wheelchair tennis player at the 2004 Summer Paralympics.
Fabienne André is a British wheelchair racer. In 2021, she won gold in the 100 m and 800 m at the 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships.