Kat Swanepoel bags Team SA's 1st medal at the Para Swimming World Champs
The Para Swimming World Championships are running from 31 July 2023 to 6 August 2023 at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.
Paralympian Kat Swanepoel. Picture: katswanepoel/Instagram.
JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s Kat Swanepoel bagged the country’s first medal at the Manchester 2023 Allianz Para Swimming World Championships.
Swanepoel won a silver medal in the women's 50m breaststroke SB3 on Monday, coming second to Italy’s Monica Boggioni.
SB3 is for breaststroke swimmers with coordination affected to a low degree in the upper trunk and arms, with the rest of the trunk and legs highly affected, and those with an absence of limbs.
The Para Swimming World Championships are running from 31 July 2023 to 6 August 2023 at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.
A total of 548 swimmers from 67 nations are competing at the event and South Africa is represented by six swimmers namely: Cornelle Leach, Christian Sadie, Nathan Hendricks, Kat Swanepoel, Danika Vyncke and Alani Ferreira.
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.
This, however, has not stopped the para-athlete from continuously raising the country’s flag high.
She has previously represented South Africa in both wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball. As a basketball player, she earned her South African colours honour - making it the first of the three sports she participated in.
Swanepoel has represented South Africa at the Tokyo Paralympic Games. She also raked in medals and broke African records at the World Para Swimming Championships in Madeira, Portugal in June 2022.