Gold medalist Rebecca Meyers celebrates on the podium at the medal ceremony for Women's 100m Butterfly - S13 at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games on Sept. 8, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Here’s a look at what’s been going on in the world of Para swimming for the last few weeks in the news and on social media…
Social Media Roundup
On Instagram, sometimes dogs are more famous than their owners, even if they’re owned by a three-time Paralympic gold medalist in swimming. Becca Meyers’ dog Birdie has an Instagram account of her own, @birdie_wonder_dog. But Birdie appears on her owner’s account plenty as well, including on Oct. 5 when she celebrated her seventh birthday.
“Happy birthday to the hardest working pup I know,” Meyers wrote, then tagging her pup’s account. “Hope your day is filled with lots of snuggles, belly rubs and naps!”
Birdie is more than just a best friend to Meyers, a two-time Paralympian and six-time medalist. Birdie is her guide dog, faithfully going wherever she goes.
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Another famous Paralympic pooch belongs to Sophia Herzog, Paralympic medalist at Rio in 2016. Less than four months ago, Herzog proudly shared she and her boyfriend Nick had adopted a rescue dog named Odie, a lab/border collie mix.
Or is he?
On Oct. 9, Herzog posted the results of a DNA test done on Odie to see just what breeds he was.
“We didn’t care what breed(s) he was but it was super fun to find out what he really is,” Herzog wrote. “Nick and I were way off in most of our guesses.”
It turns out Odie was just 15.6 percent lab, and was mostly Great Pyrenees (39.9%) and Australian cattle dog (17.9%). Other breeds were American pit bull terrier, Australian shepherd, and rottweiler. But no border collie.
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Thirteen-time Paralympic gold medalist Jessica Long recently talked with TeamUSA.org about her first year of marriage and the difficulty of how most of it has been consumed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Long marked her one-year anniversary with husband Lucas Winters with a post on Instagram.
“We did it,” Long wrote. “What a year full of so much love, learning, and patience. I couldn’t be more thankful for this journey we get to go on together and I am so honored to be your wife.”
With 23 overall medals across four Paralympic Games, Long is the second-most decorated Paralympian in U.S. history. She also owns 52 career world championship medals, 35 of them gold.
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Paralympic gold medalist Mallory Weggemann paid tribute to her coach Steve Van Dyne as part of #NationalCoachesDay on Oct. 6. Van Dyne first coached Weggemann as a high school swimmer in Minnesota, and the two stayed in touch as Weggemann went on to become a Paralympic gold medalist. She recalled in 2014 after permanent nerve damage threatened to end her promising career that it was Van Dyne who got her back in the pool and competing for medals again.
“He believed in me when not many did, he showed up and reignited my passion for the sport, Weggemann wrote. “Most of all his support has never been predicated on my ability to win, but rather rooted in helping me become the best I can possibly be — regardless of the outcome.”
In The News
On Oct. 8, Swimming Canada canceled the Can Am Para Swimming Open due to surging COVID-19 cases across Canada. The event, held in conjunction with U.S. Paralympics Swimming, was due to be held Dec. 11-13 in Vancouver. … The International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) has canceled its 2020 IWAS World Games, formerly known as the Stoke Mandeville Games and considered the first Paralympic Games. The event was originally scheduled for February before being postponed to April and then December because of COVID-19. … Swimming World, an online publication of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, has a short interview with Dee Sapp, mother of Tokyo-bound swimmer Lawrence Sapp. Dee talks about the challenges and rewards of being the parent of a Paralympian. Just turned 19, Lawrence is already a world champion in the S14 classification 100-meter backstroke from 2017, and earned a silver medal in the 100-meter butterfly in London last year.
