sport.wikisort.org - Athlete

Katja Dedekind (born 17 August 2001) is an Australian Paralympic vision-impaired swimmer and goalball player. She won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games and two bronze medals at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.[1][2][3]

Katja Dedekind

Personal information
Full name	Katja Dedekind
Nickname(s)	Kitty-Kat
Nationality	Australian
Born	(2001-08-17) 17 August 2001 (age 21) Durban, South Africa
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Backstroke and Freestyle
Classifications	S13
Club	Yeronga Park Swim Club
Coach	Rob van der Zant and Kate Sparkes
Medal record Women's Paralympic swimming Representing  Australia Paralympics 2016 Rio de Janeiro 100 m backstroke S13 2020 Tokyo 100 m backstroke S13 2020 Tokyo 400 m freestyle S13 World Championships 2022 Madeira 50 m freestyle S13 2022 Madeira 100 m backstroke S13 2022 Madeira 400 m freestyle S13 Commonwealth Games 2022 Birmingham 50 m freestyle S13

Personal life

Dedekind was born 17 August 2001 in Durban, South Africa.[4] She has a twin brother.[4] From congenital cataracts and amblyopia, she is blind in the right eye and has limited vision in the left eye.[5]

Previously from Kenmore, Brisbane,[5] Dedekind now lives on the Sunshine Coast having graduated from Matthew Flinders Anglican College, Buderim, in 2019.[6][7]

In March 2018, Dedekind had the honour of being a Queen's Baton Relay runner as one of 3500 Australians for the XXI Commonwealth Games.[5]

Dedekind's motto is "If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you".[8]

Sporting career

Dedekind competes in swimming and goalball. In swimming, she is classified as S13.

Dedekind took up goalball in 2012 after attending a 'come and try' day. At the 2012, Australian Goalball Championships in Melbourne, she was awarded the title 'Best Defensive Junior Player'[4] She was a member of the winning team at the 2013 Australian Invitational Cup in Sydney.[8]

Dedekind took up swimming at an early age with her twin brother, but did not start competing until 2012.[4] At the 2015 Swimming Queensland Sprint Championships, she was awarded the 'Swimmer of the Meet' award for swimmers with a disability.[4] In 2015, she won three gold and five silver medals at the 2015 SSA Pacific School Games. At 2016 Australian Swimming Championships, she won the bronze medal in the women's 200 m freestyle and finished fifth women's 50 m backstroke and women's 50 m butterfly.[4] She is a member of the UQ Swim Club and was coached by David Heyden.[4][9]

In 2016, Dedekind was selected to represent Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games.[10] She competed in four events and achieved one podium finish. She won a bronze medal in the women's 100 m backstroke S13. She achieved seventh in 400 m freestyle S13.[11] but didn't progress to the finals in 50 m freestyle S13,[12] 100 m freestyle S13 and 100 m freestyle S13.[13]

In August 2018 at the Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships in Cairns, Queensland, just before her seventeenth birthday, Dedekind took gold with her fastest competitive time for the 100 m backstroke.[14] She also achieved bronze in the women’s 200 m individual medley for the SM12/13 classification, and silver in the 400 m freestyle S13.

She competed at the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships in London in four events but did not medal.[15]

Dedekind is a member of the Australian Dolphins swim team. She was coached by Nathan Doyle while preparing for the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo.[6][16] At the games, Dedekind won a bronze medal in the Women's 100 m backstroke S13 with a time of 1:06.49, after achieving a personal best time of 1:07.38 in the Heats. She also won a bronze medal competing in the Women's 400 m freestyle S13.[17][18] Her time of 4:35.87 was 12 seconds behind the winner, Anna Stetsenko, of Ukraine. Dedekind also competed in the 50 m freestyle S13 where she qualified for the finals but could only manage fourth in the final.[19]

At the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships, Madeira, Dedekind won three medals - gold in the Women's 50 m Freestyle S13 and silver in the Women's 100 m Backstroke S13 and Women's 400 m Freestyle S13.[20]

At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Dedekind won the gold medal in Women's 50 m freestyle S13 in a world record time.[21][22]

About June 2022, Dedekind changed clubs from SC Spartans with coach Nathan Doyle to the Yeronga Park Swim Club with coaches Robert van der Zant and Kate Sparkes.[23]

Recognition

• 2016 Junior Female Athlete of the Year, Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association.[24]
• 2021 University of the Sunshine Coast Sportsperson of the Year[25]

References

External links

• Katja Dedekind at the International Paralympic Committee
• Katja Dedekind at IPC.InfostradaSports.com
• Katja Dedekind at Paralympics Australia
• Katja Dedekind at Swimming Australia (archived)
• Katja Dedekind on Instagram
• True Story Tuesday: Katja Dedekind & Dave Heyden

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