Nasilowski targeting Rio Paralympic Games

Namibian disabled swimmer Gideon Nasilowski on Wednesday received a sponsorship from Future Energy to compete at the South African National Disabled Championships in Durban from 12 to 18 April.

Nasilowski, who holds the African record in the S3 200m freestyle and 50m freestyle events said he was determined to qualify for this year’s IPC World Championships in Scotland in July, while he also hopes to realise his life-long dream of qualifying for the 2016 Paralympic Games.

Nasilowski’s time of six minutes 51 seconds for the 200m is just seven seconds outside the qualifying time for the IPC World Championships and he said he was sure he would reach his goal.

“I’ve trained very hard for these championships and I know for a fact that I will qualify for the World Champs. If you work hard and put your mind to what you want to achieve then nothing can stop you,” he said.

Nasilowski will compete in three events in Durban – the 50m and 200m freestyle and the 50m breaststroke – but will focus on his favourite event, the 200m freestyle, to try and qualify for next year’s Paralympic Games. That will however be a very difficult task as the qualifying time for the Paralympics is 4:51 – a full two minutes faster than his current best time.

Nasilowski however said he was determined to reach his goal.

“It will be difficult to reach that time but I’m confident that I can do it. I am improving with each competition and my training has been going very well,” he said.

“I recently bought a bicycle to improve my leg strength and I am confident that the hours that I have put in will show in my results and help me to qualify,” he said.

The sponsorship by renewable energy company Futurenergy is the second of a three-year contract and managing member of the Futurenergy board Marelise Serfontein said they were proud to help Nasilowski achieve his goals.

“We are happy to support Gideon to reach his goal of qualifying for the Paralympic Games. We believe in him and we look forward to seeing how his career develops,” she said.

Nasilowski has made a lot of progress over the past two years.

In 2013 he qualified for the IPC World Swimming Championships in Montreal, Canada where he was nominated as one of the top 50 performances at the event. It’s also here that his nickname, ‘the Namibian Amphibian’ stuck and became known to an international audience.

Last year he competed at the Pan Pacific Games in Los Angeles where he came fourth overall in the 200m freestyle while he also set African records in the 50m and 200m freestyle events.

He is still a long way off the Paralympic qualifying time but he is confident that he will reach his goal.

“When I first swam the 200m freestyle, my time was over eight minutes, but now it’s already down to 6:51. I’ve been working on some new techniques lately and I’m confident that I’ll make it – it just takes commitment,” he said.

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