Team SA ready for Paris Paralympics

Paris has extended its celebrations as it welcomes visitors to witness exciting sporting performances by the world's best para athletes when the 2024 Paralympic Games begins next week.

The opening ceremony on the Place de la Concorde on August 28 will kick off the festivities, followed by 11 days of competition for 4 400 athletes from around the world. On the programme are 22 Paralympic sports.

Team SA has competitors across athletics, archery, cycling, judo, equestrian, triathlon, swimming, boccia and wheelchair tennis.

South Africa’s flag bearers for the Paralympics are T44 100m sprinter and long jumper Mpumelelo Mhlongo and swimmer Kathrine (Kat) Swanepoel, who will be competing in the SM5 200m Individual Medley, S5 50m backstroke, 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, SB4 100m breaststroke and S14 400m freestyle.

Among Team SA’s contingent are wheelchair tennis player Lucas Sithole and swimmers Alani Ferreira and Danika Vyncke, from KwaZulu-Natal.

Vyncke will be making her debut at the Paralympic Games.

The 17-year-old visually impaired swimmer from Vryheid in northern KwaZulu-Natal will participate in the ⁠100 metre breaststroke and 400 metre freestyle.

“I feel honoured to represent team SA and I cannot wait to start racing at the games and to gain experience. All the hard training has been done. I am making sure that I am not only strong physically but also mentally.

“It is more challenging as a visually impaired athlete in the sense of not being able to see the T sometimes, or having slower turns,” said the Grade 11 pupil.

Vyncke, who is ranked 8th in the 100m breaststroke and 11th in the 400 metre freestyle, qualified for the Paralympic Games in the S13 100 metre breaststroke final at the World Champs in Manchester in 2023.

The teen started swimming at the age of five, but only went competitive at a later stage. She has competed at four international competitions, namely two World Series in France and Egypt, the World Championship in Manchester and the European Open Championship.

Vyncke has Stargardt retinal dystrophy, an inherited disorder that usually causes vision loss in childhood or adolescence.

She said among the daily challenges she faces is getting around unfamiliar places as she struggles with depth perception. She has lost some of her central vision.

Her message to others with a disability is to not let it stop them from achieving their goals and dreams.

Vyncke’s family will be in Paris cheering her on.

For Ferreira, 26, from Pietermaritzburg, this is her third Paralympic Games, where she will swim in the 100m breaststroke SB12, 400m Freestyle S13, and 100m Freestyle S12.

“I am very excited. I absolutely love racing, especially internationally. Being part of Team SA is always an honour. The emotions felt at the team announcement was overwhelming gratitude. Receiving our kit was also a very special moment.

“Unfortunately, things don’t always go to plan and I had to have knee surgery in December 2023. Luckily I have an incredible team thanks to the KZN Department of Sport and Recreation and the Elite Athlete Development Programme, who have helped me to get the support I have needed to get back on track and be stronger than I was prior to the op.

“I am also lucky to have a coach like Wayne Riddin, who has been adjusting and tweaking my training in the pool as we have progressed so that I can get the best outcome possible at the Games. Currently, I am feeling strong in the water,” said Ferreira, who qualified at the Paraswimming World Champs in September 2023, and again at the Paralympic trials in April.

She said her main race and focus for the Games is the 100m breaststroke, in which she is currently ranked fourth.

Ferreira has also participated at the Commonwealth Games, and Paraswimming World Championships. The highlight of her career so far was winning a bronze in the 100m Breaststroke SB12 in the Paraswimming World Championships in 2023.

Ferreira was diagnosed with Stargardt macular dystrophy at the age of 12.

“Every case is different, but I currently have around 5% vision left. It is a degenerative disease so I was born fully sighted and it has progressed overtime. I also really struggle with depth perception. One of the perks is that I have an incredible guide dog who never leaves my side,” said Ferreira.

Sithole, 38, a quadriplegic from Newcastle, will participate in both the singles and doubles in wheelchair tennis.

In 1998, at the age of 12 Sithole was in a horrific train accident in Dannhauser that left him a triple amputee.

“That day changed my life. But I never gave up in life because life is a gift of God. I have embraced it and am grateful for the opportunities,” said the father of three.

Sithole took part in the Paralympics in London in 2012 and Rio in 2016.

“I am looking forward to Paris and I plan to enjoy the moment and give it my best. There’s no greater feeling than representing the people of your country. I have trained very hard morning and afternoon with my coach and worked out game tactics. I can’t wait to be at the Games,” he said.

He started playing wheelchair tennis at the age of 21.

Sithole became the first African to win the United States of America (USA) Open Title in the singles tennis game.