A local athlete has made Burlington, all of Halton and all of Canada proud: swimmer Katie Cosgriffe has won a medal at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games. Even more impressively, she's done so at only 18 years old.
Cosgriffe is an Oakville Aquatic Club swimmer and lives in Burlington, achieving a remarkable milestone by winning the bronze medal in the 100m Butterfly (S10 category) at the Paralympic Games in Paris, France late last night, Sept. 3, 2024.
It was an exciting finish as Katie snagged the bronze in 1:07.22, edging out Australia’s Jasmine Greenwood by just 0.13 seconds. British swimmers took gold and silver: Faye Rogers won gold in 1:05.84, just .57 seconds ahead of Callie-Ann Warrington.
Katie's hard work, determination, and dedication have culminated in this fantastic achievement.
"I’ve had this in my mind for a while," said Cosgriffe in an interview with Swimming Canada. "I knew this was always a possibility, but I didn’t see it actually happening."
"The fact now it’s real, I’m really happy how it went. I’m not overly (happy) with my time but I can’t complain about that because I won a medal!"
The last year has been moving fast for Cosgriffe - she only received her international classification in April 2023 and competed at the 2023 Para Swimming World Championships where she had both a fourth and fifth-place finish.
"My dreams in sport shifted pretty quick,” she continues. "It was pretty sudden for me to find out I could go to the Paralympics. My goal has been on this race. Now that I’m actually here it’s surreal."
Cosgriffe is eligible as a paralympian after a 2021 was diagnosis with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which causes sensations, and loss of normal functions, in the feet, arms, hands and legs.
Katie's Paralympic journey is far from over: she's slated to compete again this Friday, Sept. 6 and Saturday, Sept. 7 in the 100m Backstroke and the 200m Individual Medley.
Fans can cheer her on by tuning into CBC, which will air all the competitions live.
