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Coast swimmer celebrates after confirmation of breaking five records
From: Sunshine Coast Daily, Australia - May 4, 2004
ANTHONY Shing has received confirmation that he broke five Australian records in the S15 disabilty category at the recent Olympic selection trials in Sydney.
The 16-year-old deaf swimmer who trains at Cotton Tree pool shaved seconds of his best times to break records in the 50m, 100m and 400m freestyle, 200m individual medley and 100m butterfly, but only found out he had broken the records after the competitors' times were calculated against their disability restrictions.
The records follow a year of success for the young swimmer who won two gold, a silver and a bronze at the Queensland swimming trials.
Coached by Jason O'Pray, Shing wants to now compete solely in able-bodied events. He is already considered one of the best swimmers in the able-bodied under-16 category, named in the Queensland swim team and Queensland schoolboys swimming team earlier this year.
Shing's father Stan said Anthony was expecting to break the S15 records. "But being multi disability it is disappointing when win by so far and then get a silver medal because other people's disability is ranked higher," Stan said.
"Next year he will only compete in able-bodied events." Stan said his son was doing things that "blow us out of the water", shaving three seconds off his 100m breaststroke time at the Queensland State titles this year.
Shing is training for the 2005 Australian Deaf Olympics but was aiming for selection in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
© 2004 Sunshine Coast Daily |
