Beijing, China Marauder swim team member Chelsey Gotell (Antigonish, N.S.) blasted off the blocks last week at the Paralympic Games and swam her way to five medals and two world records.

Gotells journey began on September 7 in the womens 100m butterfly whereshe finished second in her heat and grabbed the third place spot on the podium in the final behind fellow Canadians Valerie Grand Maison and Kirby Cote. Her final time of 1:07.91 was 0.44 seconds behind Grand Maison and almost a second faster than the time she recorded in her heat race.

After grabbing a quick nights sleep Gotell was back at it again on Monday in the womens 400m free where she claimed her second bronze medal in a time of 4:44.05.

Marauder Head Coach Andrew Cole wasexcited by Gotells results early in the meet, These races were to get her into the meet and help get rid of race jitters... this was completely unexpected.”

Gotell competed in the womens 100m free last Wednesday. She clocked in at 1:01.74 in her heat and was the second fastest woman in the finalat 1:00.26. Gotell was three for three and had not even competed her best events yet.

With three medals already around her neck Gotell had an off day from competition last Thursday but was back in the pool the following Friday for the womens 200m individual medley. Canadian Kirby Coteset the most current world record in this event at 2:29.16 in 2002 in Victoria and not only did Cote beat her own record by almost a second that day, Gotell was in front of her by 0.50 seconds. The win marked a new world record time of 2:28.15 and Gotells first gold medal of the competition.

Building off the momentum of her astounding week, Gotell smashed another world record last Sunday in the womens 100m back in a time of 1:09.09 which was more than a second and a half faster than Grand Maison who finished in second place.

Gotells successes make her one of the top ten swimmers in Canada.

Source: Charlotte Peer, Athletic Communications

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