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| Nationality |  Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 17 May 1971 Western Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Rene Hardenbol, OAM [1] (born 17 May 1971) is an Australian swimmer with an intellectual disability. At the 1992 Paralympic Games for Persons with Mental Handicap, he won five gold medals and two silver medals.
He was born on 17 May 1971 in Western Australia. [2] At the age of 12 months, he was diagnosed with behavioural autism. [2] In January 1983, his parents sent him to live in the Netherlands with his maternal grandmother and to attend the De Zevens-sprong School for children with special needs. [3] Whilst in the Netherlands he was encouraged to take up swimming. [3]
At age 13, after he returned to Australia, he was coached by Barbara Evans at the Aqua Club between 1984 and 1985. [3] before joining the Aqua Club of which he was made a life member in 1994. From 1986, he was coached by George Brown at the Victoria Park/Carlisle Swimming Club. [2] [3] In 1988, he won three gold and a silver medal at the Special Olympic Games in Sydney, New South Wales. [2] At the 1st World Games for Athletes with an Intellectual Disability in Härnösand, Sweden, he won three gold, two silver and five bronze medals. He set world record times in the 400m freestyle, 200m freestyle and 200m backstroke. [2] [4] [5]
At the 1992 Paralympic Games for Persons with Mental Handicap, Madrid, Spain, he won five gold medals in the Men's 200 m Backstroke, Men's 4 x 50 m Freestyle Relay, Men's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay, Men's 4 x 50 m Medley Relay, Men's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay and two silver medals in the Men's 100 m Freestyle and Men's 200 m Breaststroke. [6] [7] He set a world record in the 200m Backstroke. [4] After the Games, he was offered an Australian Institute of Sport Athlete with a Disability scholarship. [4]
He competed at the 1994 IPC Swimming World Championships in Malta and won three gold medals in the Men's 50m Backstroke S14, Men's 50m Breaststroke SB14, Men's 50m Freestyle S14 and a silver medal in the Men's 100 m Freestyle S14. [2] He retired from Paralympic swimming at the end of 1994. [2] [3]
In 2014, he is a member of the Somerset Masters Swimming Club. [3] He has also been a member of a four-person team who successfully completed the Rottnest Channel Swim. [3]
Jessica Tatiana Long is a Russian-American Paralympic swimmer from Baltimore, Maryland, who competes in the S8, SB7 and SM8 category events. She has held many world records and competed at five Paralympic Games, winning 29 medals. She has won over 50 world championship medals.
Matthew John Levy, is a retired Australian Paralympic swimmer. At five Paralympic Games from 2004 to 2020, he has won three gold, one silver and six bronze medals.
Lynette Margaret "Lyn" Lillecrapp, OAM is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. She contracted paralytic polio at the age of two months. Lillecrapp started her competitive swimming career in 1974, and competed at the 1976 Toronto, 1988 Seoul and 1992 Barcelona Summer Paralympics.
Michael Anderson, is an Australian Paralympic swimmer who has won gold, silver and bronze medals at the three Paralympics from 2008 to 2016.
Taylor Corry is an Australian S14 swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics, she won two silver medals.
Matthew Anthony "Matt" Haanappel, is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He was born in Wantirna, Victoria and resides in the far eastern suburbs of Melbourne. He has cerebral palsy right hemiplegia. Haanappel has represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships, the 2014 Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships, the 2016 Summer Paralympics, and the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He represents the Camberwell Grammar School Aquatic club.
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.
Kara Leo is an Australian swimmer. She has been selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in the S14 200m freestyle and 100m backstroke swimming events.
Daniel Fox is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics being awarded a bronze most recently in the 200m Freestyle S14. He has won gold at the Global Games, the Arafura Games, World Championships, Can-Am Championships, Para Pan Pacific Championships, EnergyAustralia Championships and the Commonwealth Games. Daniel also holds the world record for the 50m freestyle (24.77) and the 100m freestyle record (53.50) in the S14 classification. Daniel Fox is also the Australian ambassador for the INAS Global Games in 2019.
Jessica-Jane Applegate MBE is a British Paralympic swimmer. Applegate competes in the S14 classification for swimmers with intellectual disabilities, mainly freestyle and backstroke preferring shorter distances. She qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympics and on 2 September, Applegate won the gold setting a Paralympic record in the S14 200m freestyle.
The 2014 IPC Swimming European Championships was an international swimming competition held in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, from the 4th to the 10th of August. Around 375 athletes from 35 different countries attended. The venue, the Pieter van den Hoogenband Swimming Stadium, also held the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships.
Joseph William Walker, OAM is an Australian swimmer with an intellectual disability. At the 1992 Paralympic Games for Persons with Mental Handicap, he won nine gold medals from nine events.
Joshua Powell Hofer, OAM is an Australian swimmer with an intellectual disability. At the 1992 Paralympic Games for Persons with Mental Handicap, he won eleven medals - five gold, four silver and two bronze medals.
Timothy Malcolm Disken, is an Australian paralympic swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships and won bronze in the men's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he won a gold medal in the men's 100m freestyle S9, a silver medal in the men's S9 50m freestyle and a bronze medal in the men's 200m individual medley SM9. He also competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Timothy Hodge is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2016 and the 2020 Summer Paralympics, where he won two silver and one bronze medals. He has a been selected to compete at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, France.
Joshua Alford is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He competed in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, placing sixth in the S14 200m Freestyle final. Alford represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics after a strong performance at the 2016 Australian Swimming Championships.
Liam Schluter is an Australian Paralympic swimmer with an intellectual disability. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Ricky Betar is an Australian Paralympic swimmer with an intellectual disability. He competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and has been selected for 2024 Summer Paralympics.
Tang Wai-lok is a Hong Kong Paralympic swimmer, he classifies as a class S14 Paraswimmer.
Madeleine "Maddie" McTernan is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. She represented Australia at the 2020 Summer Paralympics where she won a silver medal.
