Sophie Pascoe's star continues to shine

November 3, 2014

Sophie Pascoe's star continues to shine

Para-Swimming star Sophie Pascoe has lost count of her sporting accolades, but the Attitude Awards finalist remains humble about her successes.

Just two when she had her leg amputated after an accident at home, the now 21-year-old Christchurch woman has continued to excel since bursting on to the elite Para-Swimming scene as a teenager at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.

Sophie has won six Gold and four Silver Paralympic medals over two campaigns, six IPC Swimming World Championship titles – three in world-record time – as well as three Silver and five Bronze IPC medals. This year, she took out two Gold medals at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in the 200m individual medley SM10 and the 100m breaststroke SB9.

Her achievements continue as a finalist in the Sport Performer of the Year category in the 2014 Attitude Awards. The national awards celebrate the excellence and achievements of Kiwis with a disability. Sophie will find out if she has won at a black tie gala evening on World Disability Day on December 3 in Auckland.

Other finalists in the Sport Performer of the Year category are Para-Swimmer Mary Fisher and Paralympic Alpine Skier Corey Peters.

“It’s exciting to be up against two people who have done so well in the past 12 months, with Corey coming away with a medal from the Winter Paralympics and Mary dominating at the Pan-Pacific Para-Swimming Champs,” Sophie says.

“It’s great that Attitude supports us and the disabled community of New Zealand with these awards.”

Sophie has just returned to the pool in the last few weeks following recent surgery. She will build up the intensity of her training to her usual rigorous regime in anticipation of the IPC Swimming World Championships next year.

There are eight categories in the 2014 Attitude Awards: Sport Performer of the Year, Courage in Sport, Artistic Achievement, Youth, Spirit of Attitude, the Attitude ACC Employer Award, Making a Difference award and the inaugural Attitude Junior Award. The overall winner of the Attitude ACC Supreme Award is selected from the category winners and a People’s Choice winner and a Hall of Fame inductee are also announced on the night.

The Sports Performer of the Year category is sponsored by Invacare. Other sponsors supporting the awards include: Drake Medox, Barfoot and Thompson, IHC Foundation, Westpac, Ministry of Health, Air New Zealand and Wayne Francis Charitable Trust.

Attitude Awards Trustee Dan Buckingham, a member of the elite national wheelchair rugby team the Wheel Blacks, says: “This is such an exciting time for everyone at Attitude Pictures because we find out who the finalists are. We have started travelling the country to film the finalists and even though this is the seventh year their stories continue to amaze us.”

Dan encourages everyone to visit AttitudeLive.com, an innovative web platform created by Attitude Pictures, in early November to see the short films of the finalists and to vote for the person most deserving of the coveted ‘People’s Choice Award.’

Chief Executive of ACC Scott Pickering says ACC is proud to be principal sponsor of the awards for the seventh year, including sponsorship of the Attitude ACC Employer Award and the Attitude ACC Supreme Award.

"I'm really looking forward to this year's Attitude Awards, which are a significant event on New Zealand's calendar. Through celebrating excellence in the disability community and the important contributions made by New Zealanders with disabilities, the awards have the power to shift perceptions and to enhance lives."

For tickets to the Attitude Awards gala evening on Dec 3 contact Sue Wales-Earl at sue@attitudeawards.org

For all the latest on the Awards and the Attitude Programme:
• Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/attitudetv
• Follow us on twitter: https://twitter.com/attitude_tv
• Watch previous awards footage at www.attitudelive.com

ENDS

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