Charles bouwer paralympic athlete biography
Charles bouwer paralympic athlete biography husband!
Disabled Swimmers
One of the earliest para swimmers from South Africa was probably Neville Cohen. In 1956 Neville Cohen won the breaststroke final at the Stoke Mandeville Games.
Charles bouwer paralympic athlete biography
Read more about Neville here...
In November 1964 South Africa sent a team to the 1964 Paralympic Games. Paradoxically, South Africa began to compete at the Paralympics after being barred from participating in the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964.
Gordon Popperwell (Western Province) won a silver medal in breaststroke, while in the women's events, A.
Somerset won a gold and two silver medals and N. Thesen won a bronze medal. Rhodesians Lynette Gilchrist and Leslie Manson-Bishop won 6 medals of which 5 were gold.
Willie Nel broke two world records at the 1968 South African Paraplegic Championships in Kimberley and then won a gold medal at the 1968 Paralympic Games held in Tel Aviv.
David Lewis, a pupil at the Elizabeth Conradie School in Kimberley, also swam in these Paralympic Games, winning two medals.