Anastasia Pagonis ( el, Αναστασία Παγώνης; born May 2, 2004) is an American

Paralympic swimmer Para swimming is an adaptation of the sport of swimming for athletes with disabilities. Para swimmers compete at the Summer Paralympic Games and at other sports competitions throughout the world. The sport is governed by the International Para ...

. She represented the United States at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralym ...

. She is a

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

and American record holder within the sport.

Career

Pagonis made her international debut at the 2020 WPS World Series event in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in February 2020, where she won gold in the 400 m freestyle and won bronze medal in the 200 m medley. She also finished in eighth in the 50 m freestyle and fourth in the 100 m freestyle. At the US Paralympic trials, Pagonis set the world 400 metre freestyle S11 record twice, once during the prelims, then again during the finals. These records were not yet ratified before the 2020 Summer Paralympics began. In June 2021 it was announced that Pagonis was named to

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

, competing in swimming at the

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. At just 17-years-old, Pagonis represented the United States in the women's 400 metre freestyle S11 event at the

where she set the S11 class world record in the preliminary heat with a time of 4:58.40. Pagonis broke the world record again during finals with a time of 4:54.49 to win gold, her first Paralympic medal and the United States' first gold medal at the Paralympics. She competed in the women's 200 metre individual medley SM11 event where she set an American record with a time of 2:45:61 and won a bronze medal. On April 14, 2022, Pagonis was named to the roster to represent the United States at the

2022 World Para Swimming Championships The 2022 World Para Swimming Championships was the 11th edition of the World Para Swimming Championships, an international swimming competition for athletes with a disability. It was held in Madeira from 12 to 18 June. The competition was origin ...

. She made her

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

debut on June 15, 2022, and won a gold medal in the 200 metre individual medley SM11 event with a time of 2:49.73.

Personal life

Pagonis' diagnosis is autoimmune retinopathy which caused her sight to deteriorate rapidly at the age of 11, and she lost her useable vision by the age of 14. She has a

guide dog Guide dogs (colloquially known in the US as seeing-eye dogs) are assistance dogs trained to lead blind or visually impaired people around obstacles. Although dogs can be trained to navigate various obstacles, they are red–green colour blin ...

named Radar, which she says changed her life and helped her with the depression she had due to her vision loss. She shares videos on

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

and

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

educating people about blindness. Her family is from Greece.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pagonis, Anastasia 2004 births Living people American disabled sportspeople American female freestyle swimmers American people of Greek descent Paralympic swimmers of the United States S11-classified Paralympic swimmers World record holders in paralympic swimming Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships People from Long Island Swimmers from New York (state) Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in swimming Paralympic gold medalists for the United States Paralympic bronze medalists for the United States 21st-century American women American sportswomen American female medley swimmers