TALENTED disabled swimmer Simoné Mare (15) is another step closer to her Olympic dreams, after being selected for the KZN swim team for the Olympic trials and youth nationals which will be held at Kings Park from Sunday to Saturday, 16 April.
She will compete in the 50m and 100m freestyle and 50m and 100m backstroke events in the S9 category, the 50m breaststroke in the SB 8 category and the Individual Medley (IM).
Mare trains at the Ushaka Swimming Club and has accumulated bags full of medals in various prestigious swimming challenges.
She has been coached by Francois Boshoff for the past two years.
Mare suffers from cerebral palsy as a result of a traumatic birth, during which the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck.
She is presenting with symptoms such as epilepsy, neck and lower back spasms, migraines and loss of strength in her legs.
Her extraordinary talent was discovered when she started water therapy as a 10-month-old baby.
She only started walking at the age of four with the aid of a walking frame, but by then she was already swimming like a fish.
Her treatment will be a lifelong process of swimming, physiotherapy and biokinetics.
The ambitious teen says she wants to one day open her own swimming school for disabled children to help others like herself.
Simoné is attending the Dynamic Kids home schooling programme in Richards Bay.
