Sophie Pascoe, who is known as a swimming wizard, has always maintained an excellent performance. At the last Paralympic Games in Beijing, she won three gold medals and a silver medal.
Sophie Pascoe is known as a swimming wizard. She seems to be born to swim.
Sophie 1993 65438+ 10 was born in Christchurch on October 8th. She has been living with her mother, father and sister, and has a happy childhood and a great growing experience. When she was a child, she had healthy limbs like all innocent and lovely children, but everything changed when she was 3 years old.
That day, his father drove a lawn mower to cut grass near his driveway. Suddenly, an accident happened. She was involved in the lawn mower, and her father and she were taken to the hospital. Sophie's calf was badly injured and fractured. After five hours of operation, her left leg was amputated below the knee, and her right leg also left a very serious scar. Life changed greatly from that moment on, and she lost her left leg forever.
Sophie Pascoe has changed from an innocent girl to a warrior who needs to face challenges. She said: "From then on, I began to like to face challenges. I am lucky to have a supportive family. My sister is nine years older than me, but we will never be treated differently. I can do what my sister can do. Great changes have taken place in my family We are a very close family. My parents work full-time, so I always stay with my grandfather, who loves me very much. He always buys me candy or ice cream, and he always encourages me to work hard for my goals. He is the main driving force and source of my life. "
Sophie's family doesn't regard her as a disabled person. When she was 7 years old, she had swimming lessons with her sister. She choked on the water for the first time in swimming class. She is not good at swimming, at least from the beginning. Her mother has been accompanying her to class. As long as she gets some achievements, her mother and swimming teacher encourage her. Slowly, her self-confidence increased, her training time increased and she learned more. Later, she also joined the school swimming team and trained with normal children.
After a period of training, her performance stands out among all the children, better than most healthy children. She said to herself, "I am a talented person. I never feel disabled, and I don't feel that I have lost anything. That calf is nothing at all. I don't need it. "
She began to take part in more swimming competitions and some campus sports meetings, and achieved remarkable results. Once, she was training alone in the swimming pool, and someone came up to her and said, "Do you want to join our team and train with us?" What she didn't know at that time was that she was talking to a famous swimming coach in New Zealand. She was selected for the New Zealand professional team, trained with some famous international athletes and participated in some international competitions. Her swimming career really began.
This year, she is only 9 years old and has just finished her primary swimming class. She joined the swimming club. Growing up, her swimming performance remained in the top of 10 at her age. She really has a passion for swimming and has a higher goal, that is, to participate in the Paralympic Games.
When she was 9 years old, many things happened. Her favorite grandfather has lung cancer. Before she died, she promised her grandfather, "I will definitely go to the Paralympic Games and get you a gold medal." Grandfather died soon. Sophie knows and remembers her promise to her grandfather. She said to the coach, "I want to take part in the Paralympic Games."
For a child under the age of 10, hard training every day is very boring. From the gym to the swimming pool, and then from the swimming pool to the school, she has little time to play with other children because she has goals. She wants to take part in the Paralympic Games and win a gold medal for her grandfather.
In 2006, at the age of 13, she participated in the world championship. She didn't have much experience in international competitions, but she won a bronze medal in the 200m individual medley. The success of this first attempt not only opened her eyes, but also let New Zealand society know that this girl's strength cannot be underestimated, and she is likely to win a Paralympic medal.
Life outside swimming is completely different from her peers. Since 20 10 became an official athlete, she has spent a lot of time in the swimming pool, most of which is either training or competing. She said: "I also like shopping, drinking coffee and watching movies with my family and friends." I like to have a good weekend. I hope to have my own life outside swimming, do some corresponding social work, raise the concern of the whole society for disabled athletes and get fair treatment from society. I hope to do more work with my talent and ability. I hope to inspire more people, and I hope that more and younger disabled athletes will participate in the Paralympic Games and enter our society. "
She is always busy with training. Every day, the schedule is full. Time flies, and it is getting closer and closer to the Paralympic Games. During the intensive training in the training camp, she and the coach discussed the training plan carefully, and then discussed the completion status after the training. Every training session is filmed and analyzed, which makes the technique more perfect. Besides, I must take part in some social activities, such as going to school with my children. She is really a good inspirational role model. The children like her very much and regard her as their role model.
She trained for two years and participated in the Beijing Paralympic Games in 2008. She was only 15 years old at that time. She is the youngest New Zealand Paralympic athlete in history, and she has learned how to be mentally prepared. She said, "I believe this is one of my best skills. Plunge into the water cube at a time. I will be full of confidence and I will go all out to win the gold medal. " At the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games, she won three gold medals and 1 silver medal. She said: "Because of Beijing, I am more confident than ever to win the gold medal."