Paralympic swimmer sets new African record and wins bronze in Spain
Cornelle Leach, who grew up in Lydenburg, was part of Team South Africa.
On Thursday June 16, Cornelle Leach set a new African record and won a bronze medal in the World Paralympic Swimming Championships in Madeira, Portugal.
In addition to setting a new African record at 1:10.36, she won a bronze medal in the SB12 100m breaststroke in a time of 1:28.60.
According to Swim South Africa, Leach narrowly missed out on a place in the women’s S12 100m freestyle final by 0.73.
Team SA obtained 13 national records and 19 African records in total.
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“I swim in the S12 class. It means I have restricted field of view in the pool. For instance I can’t see the black line at the bottom of the pool. I am proud of Team SA’s achievements and put in a lot of practice to qualify for the Paralympics. Thank you to everyone for their support, ” said Leach
She was diagnosed at age nine with Stargardt disease. It is a genetic eye disorder that causes progressive vision loss.
She was a learner at Laerskool Lydenburg, attended the local Entheos Christian School till grade ten before moving to Tswane.
She matriculated at the Prinshof School for the Visiually Impaired in Tswane before graduating from the North West University in Potchefstroom earlier this year.
Leach also spoke with fondness about her childhood years in Lydenburg to Steelburger/Lydenburg News in previous interviews.
