Simoné excels at paralympic trials

DISABLED swimmer Simoné Maré (15) reached the finals of all six her events at the paralympic trials at Kings Park in Durban last week.

The Paralympics are set to commence after the Olympics in Rio, Brazil later this year.

She competed in the 50m and 100m freestyle and the 50m and 100m backstroke events in the S9 category, the 50m breaststroke in the SB8 category and the Individual Medley (IM).

She also improved all her times between four to 13 seconds.

Maré swims for the Ushaka Swimming Club and is coached by Francois Boshoff, who said her times indicate that she could be a serious contender for the 2020 Olympics.

‘Although it is still too early to book our tickets to the 2020 Olympics, Simoné has the potential to compete at international level.

‘She however has much to learn and a lot of training ahead. Patience is a virtue,’ Boshoff said.

‘To open opportunities for Simoné, she will need financial resources.

‘I am appealing not only to the whole of Zululand, but also to the rest of South Africa, to support this great athlete to make her goal a reality.

‘Our swimming club has already had a fund-raising event to support her and the response was phenomenal.

‘We managed to cover all her travelling expenses in two days and I would like to thank all involved for their help.’

Maré suffers from cerebral palsy as a result of a traumatic birth.

Her treatment will be a lifelong process of swimming, physiotherapy and biokinetics and she dreams of one day opening her own swimming school for disabled children.

She attends the Dynamic Kids home schooling programme in Richards Bay.