Disabled swimmer makes big splash Disabled swimmer makes big splash (September 15, 2004)

Kelly Crowley will represent the U.S. in the 2004 Summer Games in Athens

National disabled swimming champion and American record holder, Kelly Crowley, 27, a Sacred Heart Prep graduated, was recently named to the 2004 U.S. Paralympic Swimming Team and is in Athens, Greece, this week to compete in the 2004 Paralympic Games.

The Paralympics is the highest athletic competition for elite athletes with disabilities.

The Paralympic Swim Team was selected at the U.S. Disabled Swimming Championships in Minneapolis on April 22-24. More than 100 swimmers competed for 45 spots on the team.

During the meet, Crowley won six gold medals. She is currently ranked third in the world in the 100-meter freestyle and fourth in the 50-meter freestyle.

She will swim five individual events in Athens.

Crowley is no stranger to the water, despite being born with only three fingers on her right hand and no elbow on her right arm. As a child, she swam competitively for 12 years, including four years of varsity swimming at Sacred Heart Preparatory in Atherton, prior to attending Santa Clara University, from which she graduated as the valedictorian in 1999.

But Crowley gave up on her swimming career because, although she had long dreamed of representing her country at the Olympic games, she had no knowledge of the Paralympics.

Once she stumbled across early-morning television coverage of the 2000 Summer Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia, Crowley returned to her childhood coach at Ladera Oaks Swim & Tennis Club in Portola Valley to begin to train for the Athens games.

The Paralympics will take place September 17-28. More than 4,000 athletes from 125 countries will compete in 18 Paralympic sports during the games.

INFORMATION

Paralympic games results will be posted on www.usparalympics.org. To learn more about Crowley's swimming career, see www.teamkelly.org.

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