Abi Tripp

Started: She began swimming at age six with Kingston Y Penguins Aquatic Club in Ontario, Canada. (swimming.ca, 25 May 2019; kingstonregion.com, 04 Jun 2015) Reason: When she first joined Kingston Y Penguins Aquatic Club she feared the water because she was unable to swim. "I cried because I was afraid and wanted to make myself do it. It was such a neat feeling to be able to use my body to get through water once I learned to swim." (swimming.ca, 25 May 2019; thewhig.com, 15 Aug 2016) Ambition: To compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. Outside of sport, she would like to become an occupational therapist. (lapresse.ca, 02 Aug 2023; kingstonist.com, 17 Sep 2021; swimming.ca, 25 May 2019) Additional Info: TOKYO DISQUALIFICATION At the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo she was disqualified in her SB7 100m breaststroke heat for an illegal kicking action. She says that despite the disqualification, the 2020 Games was a valuable experience for her. "I can feel it was a good race. In the final 25 metres I could feel my kicks falling apart a bit. There were moments in the race when I couldn't feel my legs. There was a part of me that knew this might be a disqualification. I really couldn't ask for a better outcome as weird as that sounds. I know that getting disqualified is the worst thing that could happen, it's the worst scenario. It's like I never swam in the Paralympics. But I think that this race needed to be for me. I needed to see the positive of the race, cherish the parts of that race that went amazingly well. That race represented the closing of a really tough five years for me, re-learning how to swim, how to trust my body, how to trust myself. My goal now is to build from that, to use the energy to drive forward. The fire's there." (kingstonist.com, 17 Sep 2021; thewhig.com, 01 Sep 2021) OTHER ACTIVITIES She has served as a member of Swimming Canada's High Performance Athlete Advisory Council. (swimswam.com, 19 Dec 2023)