Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Ashleigh McConnell | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | Australian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Melbourne, Victoria | 26 March 1996|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Classifications | S9, SB8, SM9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Melbourne Vicentre | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coach | Kenrick Monk | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Ashleigh Kate McConnell, OAM (born 26 March 1996) is a limb deficient Paralympic swimmer of Australia. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, where she won gold medals in freestyle relay events. [1] [2]
McConnell was born on 26 March 1996 in Melbourne, Victoria. [3] She was born without her left forearm and left hand. [4] She attended Sunbury College. [5] In 2015, she was studying Business at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. [4]
McConnell started swimming at the age of four. [4] She is classified as a S9 swimmer. [4] She narrowly missed out on making the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. [5] At the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, she won a gold medal in the Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay 34 points.
At the 2016 Summer Paralympics, McConnell won the gold medal in the Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay 34 points and competed in three additional freestyle events. [5]
At the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, McConnell won the bronze medal in the Women's 100m Backstroke S9. [6]
At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, McConnell, together with her team of Emily Beecroft, Ellie Cole, and Isabella Vincent won a silver medal in the Women's 4x100m Freestyle 34 pts with a time of 4:26.82, two seconds behind the winners, Italy. [7] She also qualified for the final of the Women's 100 m freestyle S9 where she finished sixth. [8]
At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Birmingham, England, she finished 4th in the Women's 100 m freestyle S9. [9] [10]
McConnell's motto is "You can't put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the further you get". [3] [4]
In 2016, with Para swimmer Monique Murphy, McConnell was named RMIT's Female Athlete of the Year. [11]
McConnell was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2017. [12]
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Ashleigh McConnell | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | Australian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Melbourne, Victoria | 26 March 1996|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Classifications | S9, SB8, SM9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Melbourne Vicentre | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coach | Kenrick Monk | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Ashleigh Kate McConnell, OAM (born 26 March 1996) is a limb deficient Paralympic swimmer of Australia. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, where she won gold medals in freestyle relay events. [1] [2]
McConnell was born on 26 March 1996 in Melbourne, Victoria. [3] She was born without her left forearm and left hand. [4] She attended Sunbury College. [5] In 2015, she was studying Business at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. [4]
McConnell started swimming at the age of four. [4] She is classified as a S9 swimmer. [4] She narrowly missed out on making the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. [5] At the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, she won a gold medal in the Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay 34 points.
At the 2016 Summer Paralympics, McConnell won the gold medal in the Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay 34 points and competed in three additional freestyle events. [5]
At the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, McConnell won the bronze medal in the Women's 100m Backstroke S9. [6]
At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, McConnell, together with her team of Emily Beecroft, Ellie Cole, and Isabella Vincent won a silver medal in the Women's 4x100m Freestyle 34 pts with a time of 4:26.82, two seconds behind the winners, Italy. [7] She also qualified for the final of the Women's 100 m freestyle S9 where she finished sixth. [8]
At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Birmingham, England, she finished 4th in the Women's 100 m freestyle S9. [9] [10]
McConnell's motto is "You can't put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the further you get". [3] [4]
In 2016, with Para swimmer Monique Murphy, McConnell was named RMIT's Female Athlete of the Year. [11]
McConnell was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2017. [12]