Swimming Australia will send a group of 14 athletes to compete at the Para Swimming World Series in Indianapolis next month, led by nine World Championship representatives.
Paralympic gold medallists Ellie Cole, Tiffany Thomas Kane, Maddison Elliott, Lakeisha Patterson andBlake Cochrane will lead the Aussie contingent at this meet and use this competition as a stepping stone to the Para World Swimming Championships in Mexico this October.
Fellow Dolphins Emily Beecroft, Jasmine Greenwood, Braedan Jason and Paige Leonhardt will also get the chance to test their race skills and compete against a number of experienced swimmers in their respective classifications.
Dolphins veteran 25-year-old Cole said this meet would enable her to get quality race practise ahead of the Para World Championships in October.
“The World Championships are quite late in the year so it’s good be able to get another chance to race, try to maintain some consistency with our performances and make sure we’re on track to peak in October,” Cole said.
“I think no matter how old you are or how experienced you are, every race is an opportunity to learn so I love heading over to meets like the Para World Series and racing different people that I wouldn’t normally get the chance to race and I’m really looking forward to Indianapolis.”
While for swimmers like Logan Powell, Guy Harrison-Murray and Jacob Templeton, who will not swim in Mexico, this meet is a chance to gain consistency in racing and confidence at international meets.
Swimming Australia Paralympic High Performance Manager Adam Pine said the meet will also offer a development and classification opportunity for a number of Para swimmers and was a great stepping-stone in their long-term plans.
“This year is all about training and preparation for World Championships with a focus on camps and development and this competition will provide just that, plus it will tie in necessary classification opportunities for several of our swimmers,” Pine said.
“The classification component of this tour has been supported by the Commonwealth Games Association and New South Wales Institute of Sport so athletes can undergo classification to enable them to be eligible for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games team qualification.
“We are in a strong position as we enter the next four-year cycle and my hope is that we will only get stronger, especially with the activation of our mentor coach, Jan Cameron, who will visit home coaches and help to up skill them.
“This Indianapolis meet is a bonus, it’s a chance to race different rivals and practise skills in a different environment ahead of the Para World Championships in October.
“Mexico will be about performing the best we can and building a strong aerobic base in preparation for a busy three years ahead.
“Our focus is on Tokyo 2020; in 2018 there are plenty of racing opportunities with Para Pan Pacs and the Commonwealth Games and in 2019 we are looking to host one of our own Para World Series meets in April.
“This is a long-term plan and all of the events we attend will hopefully culminate in peak performance at the pinnacle of our sport, the Paralympic Games.
The swimmers will depart Australia on June 4 and the event will run from June 9 to 11 at the Indiana University Natatorium.
Swimming news courtesy of Swimming Australia.
A while back I posted what I felt would happen with certain GB swimmers and it looks like it’s started.
Steph Slater has started to process to be lowered from S8 to S7, by her latest post on fb and picture you can see her sat in GBs on hand electric wheelchair and claims on fatigue ( invisible disability her words)
Well fatigue is not a disability it’s a condition you can recover from.
The Para swimming world is looking more and more like a joke with countries playing the system to out cheat each other at every opertunity.
So if I was the USA Para swimming selection panel I would be on the phone to Mr… Read more »
Steph Slater has a genetic connective tissue disorder, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. EDS by itself is explicitly non-classifiable, but some people with EDS classify due to secondary impairments (like Steph’s brachial plexus injury or US paratriathlete Allysa Seely’s neurological impairment and leg amputation). EDS is associated with joint instability, frequent injuries, chronic pain, fatigue and (often) dysautonomia. Steph’s 2015 hip surgery and keratoconus are both likely at least partly EDS-related. Many people with EDS end up (often part-time) wheelchair users.
Here’s an article from a wheelchair user with EDS, who was found NE to compete in Paralympic swimming:
https://medium.com/@DeLeve/why-wont-they-let-me-swim-a-bendy-s-guide-to-the-paralympic-eligibility-problem-6ad6c561973f
Just spoke to a fundraiser for Parkinson’s charity who when I told her of LP cure she laughed and said if this young women has claimed to have had this condition and now saying she is cured then she is a disgusting human being
Of course they are teaching 12 year olds to cheat the classification system. Maddison Elliott was internationally classified as a 12 year old in 2011 amid stories of her spending the morning on the bike to tire her out and having her arm wrapped in bandages for days prior. There are countess stories of neuro athletes being sent for runs and told to take cold showers prior to classification. Their ‘stars’ are stars because they cheat the system. Tiffany Thomas Kane, who is far too tall for S6 class, announced on National television that ‘she couldn’t be bothered training’ and if Maddison Elliott turning up for training 4 sessions per week then it would be a good week. If Lakeisha… Read more »
Edit: Paige Leonhardt claimed Drusen obviously not Drufus (autocorrect). Paige Leonhardts complete set of classifiable impairments for Vison, Intellectual and Physical is identical to past Australian swimmer Amanda Fowler / Reid who also had the full set before moving over to cycling. Bit of a story there as well by all accounts, pushed out of swimming after her S8 classification. Seriously, you couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried.
I’ve come to the conclusion that claims of multiple medical problems is a red flag. Leonhardt’s wikipedia says she acquired autism from a car accident among multiple other results.
Love to be a fly on the wall to see how Patterson presents this time.
The toe walk as per World Champs in Glasgow? The heel strike as in Australian Champs 2015? Or lifting her hip and foot drop as per the Rio performance?
She has lost the diagnosis of Parkinsons Disease- a miracle, she is cured!! Now just claiming CP hemiplegia. That in itself is a huge change of condition and with the loss of the Parkinsons diagnosis how can she possibly stay an 8- she “had” Parkinsons when she was given the S8 classification.
And where on earth is she getting medical documentation to say she has CP hemiplegia? Peter van de Vliet, you look… Read more »
Interesting to see Elliott will be there and yet her name is not on the list for classification.
Wonder what underhanded manoeuvre Mr Pine and his cronies are pulling this time?
Fred
maddison Elliott is being classified in Indianapolis and the Aussies are trying hard to keep it out the media and hush hush from swimming..
they are worried she will be put up to S9 and have protest paperwork already to challenge it but if she stays S9 then some say she has no QT for worlds
aussie cheating at it lowest
So the usual degree of transparency, honesty and integrity we have come to expect from the Australians.
To say they are truly worried about being found out is an understatement!!!!
Let’s put it this way I have evidence of their cheating from one of their own people which is now in the hands of the IPC
If the IPC don’t act then I will give it to the press in Australia and let the shi! Hit the fan
Some people will look stupid lol
Its most likely just a paperwork issue keeping her from being added to the schedule. I expect her to be on the next update. I think if the Aussies were being sneaky they would have taken everyone to the April meet in Brazil to be classed.
What I suspect is that they will come into the meet extremely tired from training and traveling and the times put up by Maddison will not be anything close to competitive in the S9 category and hence their readiness to protest which I don’t think there is anything wrong or underhanded with being ready to file a protest They are just doing their job by anticipating an unfavorable outcome.
I do note the… Read more »
And the fact that they have told their team not to mention ME classification and are worried she will be S9.
Coaches doing their best to avoid the media
Smells wrong
Indianapolis will be very interesting indeed. Of these 14 swimmers, the following require classification – Maddison Elliott, Lakeisha Patterson, Tiffany Thomas-Kane, Jasmine Greenwood, Jack Ireland, Emily Beecroft and Paige Leonhardt. Ms Elliott and Ms Patterson both have past form when it comes to classification so if they misrepresent for a third time surely the IPC will take severe action against them and their staff? Both Patterson and Leonhardt (also her 3rd International classification) conveniently developed Cerebral Palsy as teenagers. Of course this is stuff and nonsense. Who then in Australia is providing these swimmers with falsified medical documentation? Why do the IPC refuse to engage a Neurologist? Lakeisha Pattersons APC bio has been changed from Early Onset Parkinsons Disease, Cerebral… Read more »