Prue Watt, (born 1 January 1987, in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large Metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of City of Newcastle, Newcastle and Ci ...

) is a Paralympic swimming gold medalist from Australia. She has represented Australia at the four Paralympics from 2004 to 2016.

Personal

Prudence Elise Watt was born on 1 January 1987 in

. She was born premature at 24 weeks and the high levels of oxygen in her system resulted in her retina being damaged. As a result, she can see about 2 meters ahead and has a limited amount of peripheral vision. Her vision impairment is labelled retinopathy of prematurity. In 2016, she is studying a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Neuroscience at

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

(UNSW). She is a recipient of a UNSW

Ben Lexcen Benjamin Lexcen Order of Australia, AM (born Robert Clyde Miller, 19 March 1936 – 1 May 1988) was an Australian yachtsman and marine architect. He is famous for the winged keel design applied to ''Australia II'' which, in 1983, became the fir ...

Sports Scholarship and is part of UNSW's elite athlete program.

Swimming

080912 - Prue Watt - 3b - 2012 Summer Paralympics

She began swimming at thirteen and at the age of fifteen, she first represented Australia internationally at the 2002

IPC Swimming World Championships The World Para Swimming Championships, known also as the IPC Swimming World Championships, are the world championships for swimming where athletes with a disability compete. They are organised by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). Prev ...

, in

Mar Del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Argentine Sea, Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón Partido, General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, where she won two bronze medals. She became interested in swimming through surf life saving and was competing at state and national levels at the age of fourteen. In 2001, she was selected to tour Canada with the NSW Disabled Ski Team. This selection forced her to focus on swimming for her sporting career. She was an

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

paralympic swimming scholarship holder from 2002 to 2011. She is currently a

Victorian Institute of Sport The Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) is the government-funded sporting institute of the Australian state of Victoria. It provides high performance sports programs for talented athletes, enabling them to achieve national and international succ ...

scholarship holder. She won five silver medals, and one bronze at the 2004 Athens Games, after competing in the Women's 100 m Butterfly S13 event, the Women's 100 m Freestyle S13 event, the Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM13 event, the Women's 400 m Freestyle S13 event and the Women's 50 m Freestyle S13 event. At the same games, she won a bronze medal in the Women's 100 m Breaststroke SB13 event. She competed at the 2008 Beijing Games but failed to win a medal. At the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

in Melbourne she swam a personal best in the Elite Athletes with a Disability (EAD) 100m freestyle. At the 2006

Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, she won a silver medal in the Women's 100m Butterfly S13. At the 2011 Para Pan Pacific Championships, she won four medals with gold in the Women's 100m Butterfly and 100m Breaststroke and two bronze medals for the 50m and 100m Freestyle SB13 events. At the 2012 London Games, she won a gold medal in the Women's 100 m Breaststroke SB13 after being the fastest qualifier for the event, and a bronze medal in the Women's 50 m Freestyle SB13. She also participated in the S13 class of the Women's 100 m Freestyle and 200 m Individual Medley. At the

2015 IPC Swimming World Championships The 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships was the eighth IPC Swimming World Championships, an international swimming competition for athletes with a disability. It was held in Glasgow, United Kingdom and took place from 13 to 19 July. Around 580 ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, she finished fifth in the Women's 50m Freestyle S13 and Women's 100m Breaststroke SB13, seventh in the Women's 100m Butterfly S13 and eighth in the Women's 100m Freestyle S13. At the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, she competed in five different events. She placed sixth the final of Women's 100m Breaststroke SB13 and eighth in the final of Women's 200m Individual Medley SM13. She also raced in Women's 50m Freestyle S13, Women's 100m Freestyle S13 and Women's 100m Butterfly but didn't progress to the finals.

Skiing

During 2013–2014, she took a break from swimming and trained with the Australian Paralympic Alpine Skiing Team. Watt said "I’ve always had the dream in the back of my mind to compete at a winter and a summer games because not many people have represented Australia in both."

Recognition

Watt was the 2004 Australian Paralympic Committee Junior Female Athlete of the Year, and the 2006 and 2007 Telstra Swimmer of the Year with a Disability. She was awarded an

Order of Australia Medal The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

in the 2014

Australia Day Honours The Australian honours and awards system refers to all orders, decorations, and medals, as instituted by letters patent from the Monarch of Australia and countersigned by the Australian prime minister at the time, that have been progressively ...

"for service to sport as a Gold Medallist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games."

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Watt, Prue Female Paralympic swimmers for Australia Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia 1987 births Living people Australian Institute of Sport Paralympic swimmers Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics S13-classified para swimmers Paralympic medalists in swimming Australian female freestyle swimmers Australian female medley swimmers Australian female butterfly swimmers 21st-century Australian sportswomen Swimmers from Newcastle, New South Wales Sportswomen from New South Wales