NT soldier chases medals in Toronto
HAVING an above-knee amputation has not dimmed Territorian Sonya Newman’s aspirations of playing sport at a professional level – in fact it has only made her more determined.
Corporal Newman, an Australian Army soldier of the 1st Combat Services Support Battalion in Darwin, is competing in this year’s Invictus Games in Toronto and believes the competition has allowed her to overcome many challenges over the past year.
“It has been difficult, especially with two young kids, but this whole journey with Invictus has helped me so much,” she said.
SONYA NEWMAN
“It’s been great having the 2017 Invictus Games as a goal and having the support of the guys here has made it so much easier.”
Ms Newman is among 43 athletes from the Australian Defence Force and the Returned and Services League competing at this year’s Invic- tus Games in Canada. “This is my first time in Toronto and I’m definitely excited to be here,” she said.
“I’ll be entering the 50m freestyle, 50m breaststroke and 100m freestyle as well as wheelchair basketball and indoor rowing.”
Ms Newman said she only recently got back into swimming after having an aboveknee amputation on her right leg in September last year due to infection caused by a complication from surgery.
“I used to swim competitively as a kid and only just got back into it as I needed to get moving again,” she said.
“Swimming is a great way to keep fit and meet new people. There’s hundreds of athletes over here and everyone has their own disability so it’s been great meeting others and seeing how they go about things.”
Ms Newman said the journey in the lead-up to the 2017 Invictus Games had been extremely busy with several training camps in Sydney and Canberra.
“For the last year I have been training flat out,” she said. “I would love to take home a few gold medals for Australia but at the end of the day it’s all about enjoying the experience.”
Held from September 23-30, the 2017 Invictus Games will bring together over 550 athletes from 17 nations who have become wounded, injured or ill during their service.