5th Swimming World Champs for Persons with Down Syndrome

NEWS RELEASE

SEPTEMBER 2010

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NATIONAL DOWNS SYNDROME SWIMMING TEAM TO JET OFF TO 5th WORLD CHAMPS IN TAIWAN

On the 29^th September, the 12 members of the National Downs Syndrome Swimming team will jet off from O R Tambo International Airport for the 5^th  World Downs Swimming Championships in Taipei, Taiwan

The Championships, which take place from the 1^st – 8^th October held biennially and are unique in that only people with Down syndrome compete.   They compete in two categories:   Trisomy 21 and Mosaic Down syndrome. 

Jennifer Higgins (KZN) as the top female swimmer in South Africa will be defending her 6 World Short Course Records.  Pieter Bell, Western Cape holds the  25m Butterfly World Record and Sean O’Neil, Gauteng, 25m Freestyle World Records. Hannes-Walt de Klerk (Mosaic Down syndrome) from North West Province will be in top form, defending his 5 Mosaic World Records.  Both the male and female relay teams are serious medal contenders and the Male A relay team will be defending their 3 World Records.

The championships has grown over the years from the first competition held in Reading, England in 2002 where  6 countries participated  with 54 swimmers, to 198 swimmers and 23 participating countries  in Albufeira, Portugal in 2008.   It is expected that more swimmers will be competing in Taiwan this year.  

 

All the swimmers in the National Down’s Team are registered with Swimming South Africa, train with “able bodied” swimming clubs and also compete in mainstream swimming competitions. This affords them the opportunities for regular training, integration and participation.  These swimmers need the same commitment as all sports people to reach national representative level, from training to tenacity.  But to get there they have to have that extra measure of determination.  .Everyone takes their swimming very seriously and training diligently to take up the challenge in Taipei.

Swimming for persons with Down syndrome has grown over the past 8 years, Standards have been raised and all this development has resulted in a new format in the Championships.  In principal it incorporates 2 competitions within the Championships, namely an International Championships during the heats with the top eight swimmers going through to the evening’s finals or World Championships. SASA-II welcomed this format as it allows for participation from a broad base of swimmers in the International leg of the Championships, while the World Championship event caters for the top elite swimmers.

TEAM SOUTH AFRICA

Swimmers Men

Pieter Bell                                           Western Province

Hannes De Klerk                               North West

Hylton Heggie                                    KZN

Johan Hugo                                        Western Province

Peter Lundy                                        KZN

Jacques Nel                                        Free State

Sean O’Neill                                       Gauteng

Tyrone Rademeyer                            Gauteng

Swimmers Women

Donnee Dixon                                    Western Province

Jennifer Higgins                                 KZN

Mariza Holdt                                      Western Province

Betty-Lou Miller                                Western Province

Management

General Manager                Albert Warnick             Western Province

Team Manager                    Barbara Higgins           KZN

Asst. Team Manager          Avril Farao                    Western Province

Head Coach                         Johno Ferguson            KZN

Asst Coach                           Julia Legodi                  Gauteng

Edited by: Albert Warnick (SASA II - PRO)