Paige Leonhardt

Paige Leonhardt (born 21 September 2000) is an Australian swimmer. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, where she won a silver medal and the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

Personal life

Leonhardt was born on 21 September 2000. At the age of five she was involved in a car accident that left her with severe injuries. She spent four years recovering. The accident left her with hemiplegia cerebral palsy on her right side as well as intercranial hypertension, epilepsy and autism.

Since 2018, she is an ambassador for Variety the Children's charity.

Career Leonhardt is classified as a S14 swimmer. She was previously classed as an S10 swimmer for athletes with physical impairment however the International Paralympic Committee deemed her very mild physical impairment to not meet the eligible criteria for inclusion in Paralympic sport. As she was deemed ineligible, she now competes in the S14 class for athletes with intellectual impairment. At the 2013 McDonald's Queensland Multi Class Championships, she swam in 11 events and won seven gold and four silver medals. At the 2014 Australian Swimming Championships, she won the bronze medal in 50m Breaststroke Multi-class. She also finished fifth in the Women's 200m Medley Multi-class in a personal best time of 2.39.11 and seventh in the Women's 100m Butterfly Multi-class in 1.11.53.

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast, she won the silver medal in the Women's 100m Breaststroke SB9 and finished fourth in the Women's 100m Individual Medley SM10.

At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, Leonhardt won the silver medal in the Women's 100 m Butterfly S14 with a time of 1:05.48, less than 2 seconds behind Valeriia Shabalina of RPC who set a world record. She qualified for the finals of the Women's 100 m Breaststroke SB14 and Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM14 but could only manage sixth.

At the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships, Madeira, Leonhardt won three medals - gold in the Women's 100 m Butterfly S14 and silver in the Women's 100 m breaststroke SB14 and Mixed 4 × 100 m Medley relay S14. She did not medal in two other events. At the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships, Manchester, England, she won a gold medal in the Mixed 4 × 100 m Medley Relay 49 pts and the bronze medal in the Women's 100 m breaststroke SB14.

At the 2024 Paris Paralympics, she competed in three events - Women's 100 m butterfly S14 (7th), Women's 100 m breaststroke S14 (4th) and Women's 200 m individual medley Sm14 (8th).

Leonhardt said "swimming is the only place where she feels like everyone else".

Recognition 2022 - Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship Holder – Tier 3