PARALYMPICS 2024: Swimmer Kat Swanepoel on having her world flipped upside down, and flying Team SA's flag high

JOHANNESBURG – South African Para-swimmer Kat Swanepoel, who has previously represented South Africa in both wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball, is a force to be reckoned with as she gears up for what she hopes is another successful Paralymic Games.
 
As a basketball player, she earned her South African colours, making it the first of the three sports she's participated in.

Swanepoel has represented South Africa at the Tokyo Paralympic Games, and will swim in Paris.

She and track athlete Mpumelelo Mhlongo were named as the flag bearers for Team South Africa.

Swanepoel is one of a number of athletes profiled by Eyewitness News in the lead-up to the start of the Games on Wednesday.

READ MORE:

• Swanepoel and Mhlongo named as Team SA's flag bearers for Paralympics
• Kat Swanepoel has her sights on 2023 World Champs
• Kat Swanepoel bags Team SA's 1st medal at the Para Swimming World Champs
• Para-swimmer Swanepoel bags gold and breaks African record at World Champs
• Winning gold at World Champs was an emotional affair for para-swimmer Swanepoel

“So Paris is not going to be my first Paralympics. I was fortunate enough that I took part in the Tokyo Paralympics, the 2020 COVID Paralympics. So it's certainly really great, you know, such a privilege going to your second Paralympics” said Swanepoel.

The swimmer reflects on the privilege of participating in her second Paralympics, and the new experiences that come with it.

“It's still new. It's still something different, but at least having the experience of a previous Paralympics, knowing a little bit what to expect.”

Looking back at her previous Games, Swanepoel highlights the importance of team support, especially during the Tokyo Paralympics when no spectators were allowed.

“There were no families allowed, no friends, no spectators. You depend on your team. We are family, and a lot of that team has stayed the same now going into Paris, so it's nice to know we've all travelled together. We consider each other brothers and sisters. So even though now we can have our families going over with us, we still have family together in swimming.”
 
Swanepoel tells Eyewitness News she goes into the Paris Games with a new classification, meaning she has had to quickly adapt to new qualifying times and learn new strokes, such as butterfly for the individual medley.

“So my reclassification, it flipped our world. It did, and it was completely unexpected. I was only due for reclassification in 2027. We went over to European champs just for some racing practice, and I got told to report for reclassification immediately. And within half an hour, two people changed pretty much the outcomes of my games going into a stronger classification. It means that I'm now competing against people who have more physical function than I do.”

Swanepoel has a progressive degenerative form of multiple sclerosis that she acquired in her fourth year whilst studying occupational therapy in 2008.

“I have an auto-immune condition called Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (PPMS), where my immune system attacks my central nervous system, causing paralysis, amongst other issues," explained Swanepoel.

Her disability has other underlying issues that aren’t as visible, such as being paralysed from the chest down, going blind in one eye, and having her body get progressively weaker, to where she now has no sensation or movement from her chest down, or half of her arms.

When fatigued, she also struggles with speech as parts of her brain, optic nerves and spinal cord can be affected by her disease. She has had a stroke, and seizures aren't uncommon.

Swanepoel is determined to continue to raise South Africa’s flag high at the Paralympics.

You can catch Swanepoel's first swim on 29 August at 09:30. For a detailed breakdown of more Paralympic Games events, click here.