Paris 2024 Paralympics | They will give us chills: Anastasia Pagonis
Right from the start of her international career, American Paralympic swimmer Anastasia Pagonis made her mark in a new world. In her first major international competition, she won a gold medal in the 400m freestyle S11 and a bronze medal in the 200m individual medley at the World Para Swimming Championships in Melbourne, Australia, in February 2020.
Born in 2004 in the state of New York, USA, Anastasia switched from soccer to swimming when she began to lose her sight at the age of 11. Suffering from autoimmune retinopathy, she went completely blind at the age of 14 and had to learn how to swim in the dark. She tells Olympics.com: “I cut my nose, broke all my fingers, hands, ankles... A difficult learning curve to say the least”.
Yet she persists in a sport that fulfills her, that allows her to feel free. After falling into a terrible depression following the loss of her sight, she learns to appreciate life with her handicap. Her guide-dog, Radar, gave her back her zest for life. Since then, she's been sharing her experiences on social media, as if on a quest: she wants to change the way able-bodied people perceive blind people. Through behind-the-scenes footage of her training and humorous sketches, she has become a role model for other young people.
The full calendar of Para swimming races
The world record, a race against oneself
Unstoppable, Anastasia remains unsatisfied with her medals from world championships, and sets two new world records in the 400m freestyle S11: first at the American selection trials for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, with a time of 4'56“16, then at her first Paralympic Games in Japan, with a time of 4'54”49, almost 10 seconds ahead of the runner-up. During these games she wins gold in the 400m freestyle and bronze in the 200m individual medley.
More recently, at the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships, she became triple gold medalist in the 100m freestyle, 200m medley and 400m freestyle. A huge favorite to win the Paralympic title in her S11 category, will Anastasia Pagonis once again set a world record during Paris 2024?