Nationality Australia | Name Chantel Wolfenden | |
Full name Chantel Louise Wolfenden Born 15 January 1986 (age 38) ( 1986-01-15 ) Lithgow, New South Wales | ||
Chantel Louise Wolfenden, OAM(born 15 January 1986) is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. Born in the New South Wales town of Lithgow, she started to swim at the age of five as therapy for cerebral palsy. She underwent three operations to cut and lengthen her achilles tendon.
She competed at the 2002 IPC Swimming World Championships in Mar Del Plata, Argentina winning a gold medal in the women's 400m Freestyle S7 and two silver medals in the women's 100m Backstroke and women's 100m Freestyle S7 events.
At the 2004 Athens Games, she won a gold medal in the Women's 400 m Freestyle S7 event, for which she received a Medal of the Order of Australia, a silver medal in the Women's 100 m Freestyle S7 event, and four bronze medals in the Women's 100 m Backstroke S7, Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM7, Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle 34 pts and Women's 4 × 100 m Medley 34 pts events.
She swam for the Fairmead Swim Club in Bundaberg, Queensland and was coached by Paul Simms. Between 2002 and 2006, she was an Australian Institute of Sport paralympic swimming scholarship holder. She was also a Queensland Academy of Sport scholarship holder.