Rachael
Watson

Rachael Watson wrote herself a page in the history books in 2016, when – at her first Paralympic Games – she won a gold medal and set a new Paralympic record in the women’s 50m freestyle S4.

Doubling as Rachael’s international debut, it marked an incredible rise to the top for the young Queenslander, who only two years earlier had been struck down by Guillain-Barré syndrome – in essence, Rachael’s immune system mistakenly attacked her peripheral nervous system, paralysing her. This came after Rachael was a triplet born four months prematurely, which led to her acquiring spastic diplegia cerebral palsy.

Para-swimming formed part of her physiotherapy.

Classified as an S4 athlete in 2015, Rachael first caught the attention of the Australian Para-swimming team’s coaching staff at the 2016 Australian Swimming Championships in Adelaide, SA, where she came within a hair’s breadth of the women’s 100m freestyle S4 world record. The 2017 edition would see Rachael clinch the women’s 50m freestyle S4 world record, which she holds to this day.

She returned to Paralympic competition as a dual World Championships medallist, having won silver and bronze in 2019.

At Tokyo 2020, she produced a remarkable swim from lane two to win the Women’s 50m Freestyle S4, finishing in a Paralympic record of 39.36.