Katherine Rose Downie (born 12 January 1996) is an Australian Paralympian. Kat first represented Australia in 2011. Kat represented Australia at the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

in swimming and was a member of both the Gold medal Women's 34 point 4 x 100 free and 4 × 100 medley relay teams. Kat placed fourth in both her pet events the 100 backstroke and 200IM. Katherine lives with mild right hemiplegic spastic cerebral palsy and is an Australian S10 classified swimmer.

Personal

Downie was born on 12 January 1996 in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, Scotland. She has right hemiplegia spastic

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sens ...

", a condition she has had since birth. , Katherine is an Architecture student at Curtin University.

Swimming

Downie is an S10 classified swimmer. She is a member of the Perth City Swim Club, and is coached by Matt Magee. She has set three world records, all at the 2011 Australian National Open Short Course Championships. The records were for the 100m freestyle, 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke events. Downie learned to swim as a baby/toddler in Aberdeen Scotland. She became a competitive swimmer in 2007 when she was ten years old. She first represented Australia in an international competition in 2011. She competed at the 2011 Arafura Games. She participated in the 2012 Australian Swimming Championships/London Olympic Trials in Australia as a sixteen-year-old. She finished second in the 200m individual medley event with a time of 2.34.21. She had a personal best time of 1.02.88 in the 100m freestyle, personal best time of 29.03 in the 50m freestyle, and personal best time of 32.04 in the 50m butterfly. In the women's 50m backstroke multi class event, she finished second with a time of 33.62. She was selected to represent Australia at the

. She attended a Paralympic farewell ceremony at Perth's State Basketball Centre in late July. She competed in nine events and won two gold medals as a member of the Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle and 4 × 100 m Medley Relay (34 points) teams. Competing at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

, Canada, she won a silver medal in the Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM10 and bronze medal in the Women's 100 m Backstroke S10. She was awarded an

Order of Australia Medal The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in the 2014

Australia Day Honours The Australian honours and awards system refers to all Order (distinction), orders, decorations, and medals, as instituted by letters patent from the Monarchy of Australia, Monarch of Australia and countersigned by the Australian prime minister a ...

"for service to sport as a Gold Medallist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games." In 2013 and 2014, she was awarded Wheelchair Sports WA Junior Sports Star of the Year.

References

External links

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2015-04-24
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Downie, Katherine 1996 births Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Australian female backstroke swimmers Australian female freestyle swimmers Female Paralympic swimmers for Australia Living people Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Sportspeople from Aberdeen Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Scottish disabled sportspeople Scottish emigrants to Australia Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics S10-classified para swimmers Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Paralympic medalists in swimming 21st-century Australian women Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games