TORONTO – The largest Para-swimming team Canada has ever sent to a Parapan American Games will be looking to reap a record haul of medals.
A team of 40 athletes has set a goal of between 80 and 85 podium finishes when the swimming competition begins Saturday at the Toronto 2015 Parapan Am Games.
‘We have looked at the numbers and that was the target we thought,” said Craig McCord, the national Para-swimming coach.
The bar has been set high but veteran Adam Purdy believes the support of a home-town crowd at the Parapan Am Aquatic Centre and Field House will give the team that extra lift.
“This team is going to be fantastic,” said the three-time Paralympian who came out of retirement especially to swim at the Toronto Parapan Ams.
“We are going to see some fantastic performances by the sheer nature of them racing in Canada with people passionate about the sport of swimming.”
McCourt believes the battle for supremacy in the pool will be fought between Canada and a powerful Brazilian team preparing for next year’s Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The United States will send its B team but will be competitive.
‘Head to head with us and the Brazilians it will be close,” said McCourt. “It will be interesting to see how it goes.
“I think we can take a run at the Brazilians and try and win the meet. It’s going to be a challenge but we have to see what we can do.”
The Canadian team will be a mixture of veterans and 15 swimmers appearing in their first major international event.
“We have a dynamic team,” said Purdy, 34, an S6 swimmer from London, Ont., who has an impairment that impacts joint and muscle development. “It’s a potpourri of abilities, disabilities, experience and inexperience.
“There is a whole generation of kids we haven’t met yet. People who haven’t had the opportunity yet to be exposed to the world. This is an excellent opportunity.”
Leading the team will be Aurelie Rivard, an S10 swimmer from St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., and Benoit Huot of Longueuil, Que.
Rivard, 19, who swims with one hand, won four medals, included a pair of gold, at the recent IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Huot, who has club feet, reached the podium three times in S10 events at Glasgow to give him 32 world championship medals.
Swimmers like Alec Elliot, who has a rare condition that limits the use of his hands and feet, want to use the Parapan Ams to establish themselves on the international stage.
“It’s definitely a chance to show myself,” said the 19-year-old from Kitchener, Ont., who swims in the S10 category. “Show what I can do, swim fast, and be able to take my swimming to the next level.”
Other Canadian swimmers to watch at the Parapan Ams include.
_ Tess Routliffe, 16, of Caledon, Ont., an S7 dwarf who won a silver and had four, fourth-place finishes in Glasgow.
_ Jean-Michel Lavalliere, 24, of Montreal, an S7 with cerebral palsy, has the potential to win six medals in events like the 50-meter butterfly and freestyle, plus the 200-m individual medley.
_ Nicolas-Guy Turbide, 18, of Quebec City, a visually-impaired swimmer who also could win six medals.
While medals will be the immediate reward, the Parapan Am meet will also have future benefits.
The performances in Toronto can help determine how many swimmers Canada will be able to send to next year’s Paralympics. The coaching staff can also measure the development of athletes targeted for the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo.
“One of the things we talked about in the whole quadrennial is about the next generation,” said McCourt. “We’ve done a really good job of developing those athletes that are going to be the next generation.”
James Hood, Swimming Canada’s senior manager high performance Para-swimming programs, said the Parapan Ams hopefully will attract more athletes with an impairment to summer sport.
Hood said there was increase in winter Para-sport participation following the 2010 Winter Paralympics.
“There is the visibility a home Games brings,” he said. “Look at the surge we saw after Vancouver.
“Certainly the hope is we see the same type of surge here, where we will see an increased number of children with impairment go ‘I want to be in sport.’ Whether that is swimming or any of the sports, it really is an important part of life and there are great opportunities in high performance.”
Swimming news courtesy of Swimming Canada.
