Full name Paige Leonhardt Sport Swimming Club Wingham Swimming Club | Nationality Australia Classifications S10 Coach Jeremy Wardrop | |
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Born 21 September 2000 (age 16) ( 2000-09-21 ) NSW, Australia | ||
Paige Leonhardt (born 21 September 2000) is an Australian swimmer. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
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Personal
Leonhardt was born on 21 September 2000. At the age of five she was involved in a car accident that left her with severe injuries. She spent four years recovering. The accident left her with hemiplegia on her right side as well as intacraneal hypertension, epilepsy and autism. The intercranial hypertension means that she regularly needs to have excess fluid on the brain removed via a spinal tap. The calcium build-up behind her eyes causes drusen which will one day lead to a loss of eyesight. She lives in Port Macquarie, New South Wales which is also the home of wheelchair rugby gold medallist Ryley Batt who is her idol. She attends St Joseph’s Regional College in Port Macquarie.
Career
Leonhardt is classified as a S10 swimmer. She took up squad swimming in March 2012 to assist her rehabilitation. At the 2013 McDonald's Queensland Multi Class Championships, she swam in 11 events and won seven gold and four silver medals. At the 2014 Australian Swimming Championships, she won the bronze medal in 50m Breaststroke Multi-class. At the 2015 Australian Swimming Championships, she won the bronze medal in 50m Breaststroke Multi-classand made the final of the 100m Breaststroke Multi-class. In multi-class events at the 2015 Australian Age Championships, she won silver in the 50m Breaststroke as well as bronze in the 50m Freestyle and 100m Freestyle. At the 2016 Australian Swimming Championships, she won bronze medal in the Women's 100m Breaststroke Multi-class in a personal best time of 1.21.31. This was the fourth fastest time clocked in the world this year. She also finished fifth in the Women's 200m Medley Multi-class in a personal best time of 2.39.11 and seventh in the Women's 100m Butterfly Multi-class in 1.11.53.
She is a member of the Wingham Swimming Club and coached by Jeremy Wardrop. She trains six days a week, travelling from Port Macquarie for sessions in the morning and afternoon.
She competed at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in six events. She qualified for the final in Women's 100m butterfly S10 finishing in sixth place and Women's 100m breaststroke finishing sixth. She also competed in the following events but didn't progress to the finals: Women's 50m freestyle S10, Women's 100m Freestyle S10, Women's 100m Backstroke S10 and Women's 200m Individual Medley SM10.
Leonhardt said "swimming is the only place where she feels like everyone else". In 2014, she jointly awarded the Junior Sportsperson (18 and under) at the Port Macquarie Hasting Sports Awards.
