Taliso Engel

Started: He took up swimming at age six in Nuremberg, Germany, and started competing at age 10. (parasports.de, 01 Sep 2020; deutsche-paralympische-mannschaft.de, 05 Jun 2018) Reason: "I used to play football alongside swimming at the school for the visually impaired in Nuremberg. In 2012, a supervisor came up to me, and asked me if I would like to go to the German short course championships. So that's where I took part in my first Para sport competition." (parasports.de, 01 Sep 2020) Ambition: To compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, and to compete at the Olympic Games. (faz.net, 02 Aug 2023; Instagram profile, 19 Jun 2023) Awards: He was named Young Para Athlete of the Year for 2019 by the German National Paralympic Committee [DBS]. (dbs-npc.de, 25 Nov 2019) He was named 2019 Male Athlete of the Year in Nuremberg, Germany. (fcn-schwimmen.de, 28 Jan 2021; de-goldene-ring.com, 07 Feb 2020) Additional Info: MOTHER AND COACH His mother acted as his coach when he first began competing in Para swimming. "At first I always went to Para competitions with my mother as a 'coach'. But after the first few competitions, my mother was asked by the then coach from North Rhine-Westphalia [NRW] whether he should look after me. After that I was suddenly always out and about with the team from NRW in Para competitions. I liked that very much because I got on really well with all the athletes and coaches from NRW." (parasport.de, 01 Sep 2020)