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| Nationality | American | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | April 24, 1999 Hershey, Pennsylvania, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Paralympic swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability | Ehlers–Danlos syndrome | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability class | S10, SM10, SB9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Taylor Winnett (born April 24, 1999) is an American Paralympic swimmer who will represent the United States at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
Winnett was born on April 24, 1999, in Hershey, Pennsylvania. She committed to swim at Loyola University Maryland, the summer before her senior year in high school. In August 2016, she flipped over on a jet ski and herniated two discs in her spine. In October 2016, she fell during calculus class and suffered a fractured vertebrae and a Tarlov cyst at the base of her spine. She was then diagnosed with Ehlers–Danlos syndrome and Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. [1]
She was forced to complete her senior year of high school online and decommitted from college swimming. Her physical therapist at Johns Hopkins Hospital suggested she start swimming again, and her swim coach at Loyola suggested she get involved in Para swimming. After two-and-a-half years of pain management and rehabilitation, she received her classification in 2019 at the Bill Keating Cincinnati Para Swimming Open. [2]
Winnett represented the United States at the 2023 Parapan American Games where she was the most decorated U.S. athlete at the games with seven medals. She won three gold medals and four silver medals. [3] During the 100 meter butterfly S10 event she set a Parapan American Games record with a time of 1:09.35. [4] [5]
On June 30, 2024, Winnett was named to team USA's roster to compete at the 2024 Summer Paralympics. [6]
Winnett began swimming at the age of four, her mother was a swim coach, while her older sister was also a swimmer. She is married to Spc. Jeric Winnett, a combat engineer with the 595th Sapper Company in the Army. [7]
Jessica Tatiana Long is a Russian-born 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 six Paralympic Games, winning 30 medals. She has won over 50 world championship medals.
Stephanie Dixon, is a Canadian swimmer. She is a three-time Paralympian and competed at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Paralympic Games prior to retiring from competitive swimming in 2010. During her career, Dixon won nineteen Paralympic medals and seven Parapan American Games medals, and was a 10-time world champion. She is one of Canada's most successful Paralympians.
Tess Routliffe is a Canadian Paralympic swimmer and winner of multiple world championship and Paralympic medals. She represented Canada at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, where she won the silver medal in the women's 200 m individual medley SM7.
McKenzie Coan is an American swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, she swam the 400m Freestyle in the S8 category. Coan was one of four S8 category swimmers chosen to compete for Team USA at the games. She later had her breakout games in the 2016 Summer Paralympics, where she would go on to win 3 gold medals in the category S7 50, 100, and 400M Freestyle races, with an additional silver medal in the 34-point women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle relay. In the process of getting her gold medal in the 50M Freestyle she also set a new Paralympic Record.
Canada competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, from 24 August to 5 September 2021.
Hannah Elizabeth Aspden is an American Paralympic swimmer. She was the youngest swimmer on Team USA to medal at either the Olympics or Paralympics in 2016. During the 2019–20 season at Queens University of Charlotte, Aspden broke two American Paralympic Short Course Meters Swimming records in both the 100-Meter Backstroke and the 100-Meter Freestyle.
Colleen Young is an American swimmer. She is a three-time Paralympian earning a bronze medal at the 2016 Paralympic Games, as well as a bronze and a silver medal at the 2020 Paralympic Games. She has also earned multiple gold, silver and bronze medals at World Championships. She competes in the Paralympic class S13. In 2016 she set a Pan-American record in the 100m breaststroke.
Nadia Soledad Báez is a blind Argentine Paralympic swimmer who competes in international level events. She competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, winning a bronze medal. She competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Gia Pergolini is an American Paralympic swimmer. She represented the United States at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Paralympics.
Leanne Smith is an American Paralympic swimmer who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Mikaela Jenkins is an American former Paralympic swimmer who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
David Henry Abrahams is a blind American Paralympic swimmer. He represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Summer Schmit is an American Paralympic swimmer who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Noah Jaffe is an American Paralympic swimmer who specializes in freestyle and butterfly events.
Olivia Chambers is a visually impaired American Paralympic swimmer.
Grace Nuhfer is an American Paralympic swimmer who represented the United States at the 2024 Summer Paralympics winning a silver medal.
Evan Wilkerson is an American Paralympic swimmer. He will represent the United States at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
Yaseen El-Demerdash is an American Paralympic swimmer. He will represent the United States at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
Lawrence Sapp is an American Paralympic swimmer. He represented the United States at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Paralympics.
Alexandra Truwit is an American Paralympic swimmer. She represented the United States at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
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