Paige Leonhardt (born 21 September 2000) is an Australian swimmer. She represented Australia at the

2016 Rio Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

and the

2020 Tokyo 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 Paralympic ...

, where she won a silver medal.

Personal life

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 cerebral palsy on her right side as well as intercranial hypertension,

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

and

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

. 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 Drusen, from the German word for ''node'' or ''geode'' (singular, "Druse"), are tiny yellow or white accumulations of extracellular material that build up between Bruch's membrane and the retinal pigment epithelium of the eye. The presence of a f ...

which will one day lead to a loss of eyesight. She now lives in

Mount Cotton, Queensland Mount Cotton is a rural Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the City of Redland, Queensland, Australia. In the , Mount Cotton had a population of 6,835 people. The area was colonised by Germans in the late 1860s after possible fro ...

, previously lived in

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea co ...

which is also the home of wheelchair rugby gold medallist

Ryley Batt Ryley Batt, (born 22 May 1989) is an Australian wheelchair rugby player. He has won two gold and one silver medal at five Paralympic Games. Biography Ryley Douglas Batt was born on 22 May 1989 without legs and had surgery to separate his ...

who is her idol. She previously attended St Joseph's Regional College in Port Macquarie but in 2019 she graduated from

St Paul's Grammar School , motto_translation = In Christ the future , established = , denomination = Nondenominational Christianity , type = Independent co-educational early learning, primary and secondary day sc ...

Career

Leonhardt is classified as a S14 swimmer. She was previously classed as an S10 swimmer for athletes with physical impairment however the International Paralympic Committee deemed her very mild physical impairment to not meet the eligible criteria for inclusion in Paralympic sport. As she was deemed ineligible, she now competes in the S14 class for athletes with intellectual impairment. 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 The 2014 Australian Swimming Championships were held from 1 to 6 April 2014 at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre in Brisbane, Queensland. They doubled up as the national trials for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Qualification criteria Below ...

, she won the bronze medal in 50m Breaststroke Multi-class. At the

2015 Australian Swimming Championships The 2015 Australian Swimming Championships were held from 3 to 10 April 2015 at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre in Sydney, New South Wales. They doubled up as the national trials for the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, Russia, ...

, 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 competed at the

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. At the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

, she won the silver medal in the Women's 100m Breaststroke SB9 and finished fourth in the Women's 100m Individual Medley SM10. At the

, Leonhardt won the silver medal in the Women's 100 m Butterfly S14 with a time of 1:05.48, less than 2 seconds behind Valeriia Shabalina of RPC who set a world record. She qualified for the finals of the Women's 100 m Breaststroke SB14 and Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM14 but could only manage sixth. 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 ...

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

, Leonhardt won three medals - gold in the Women's 100m Butterfly S14 and silver in the Women's 100 m breaststroke SB14 and Mixed 4 × 100 m Medley relay S14. She did not medal in two other events. 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.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leonhardt, Paige Female Paralympic swimmers for Australia Living people 2000 births Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic medalists in swimming Cerebral Palsy category Paralympic competitors S10-classified para swimmers Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Swimmers at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Swimmers with cerebral palsy People from Redland City Australian female breaststroke swimmers Australian female medley swimmers S14-classified para swimmers 21st-century Australian women Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Place of birth missing (living people)