Making a splash
The influential Sophie Pascoe
‘‘I still love what I do. I will keep doing it as long as I can until it comes to the point where I know that I don’t love it any more.’’ Sophie Pascoe
Sophie Pascoe, New Zealand’s most decorated Paralympian, is no stranger to honours – in and out of the swimming pool.
She received the MBE when she was just 15, but a decade on the champion swimmer is humbled at being a finalist in the 2018 Women of
Influence awards.
The 25-year-old – recuperating at home in Christchurch after leg surgery – said it was a huge honour to be alongside other talented women who have proved influential in their various spheres, ‘‘not only in our country, but worldwide’’.
Pascoe prides herself on being a strong, independent woman who is passionate about the Paralympic movement.
Ever since she burst on the scene as a 15-year-old with three gold medals at the Beijing Games in 2008, Pascoe has striven to champion the Paralympic cause. She has constantly called for Paralympians to be given the same status as any other sportspeople, including pressing for their inclusion in the able-bodied category at the Halberg Sports Awards.
In her 2013 autobiography, Sophie
Pascoe – Stroke of Fate, the young woman who once eclipsed former All Blacks captain Richie McCaw for the Canterbury Sportsperson of the Year award spoke of how she did not want to be remembered as a Sophie Pascoe the swimmer but would like to be remembered for ‘‘what I did in and out of the pool’’. That remains a motivating goal. First and foremost, she aims to make her biggest supporters – her parents Jo and Garry – and her family proud, but she also enjoys being a role model for others.
A fierce competitor who has always trained and raced like an able-bodied swimmer, Pascoe regards it as a privilege to be able to help inspire other people to achieve their dreams.
‘‘It all comes back to my accident,’’ said Pascoe, who lost her lower left leg in a lawnmower accident when she was two-anda-half years old. ‘‘What a lot of people would see as a negative, I have chosen to turn into a positive.’’
A finalist in the diversity category, Pascoe is among a group of 83 women being considered for awards at a function in Auckland on September 18.
By mixing with other influential women, it may give her ideas about ways to ‘‘continue my legacy, postswimming’’. She may find a new passion to ultimately pursue.
Not that the proud winner of nine gold medals and six silvers across three Paralympic Games is planning to hang up her racing goggles any time soon.
‘‘I still love what I do. There’s definitely no end date, I will keep doing it as long as I can until it comes to the point where I know that I don’t love it any more. That will be the day I give it up.’’
She has been studying business and management in her spare time away from training and racing.
She says it has been good to challenge her brain by studying again after missing a lot of time at high school in pursuit of her swimming dream.
Pascoe enjoys setting herself challenges. That’s why she spent three-and-a- half months living and training in the English Midlands before her last major assignment, the Para-Pan Pacific championships in Cairns in early August.
Before leaving for Nottingham in April, she told Newsroom she was doing it to ‘‘push myself outside my comfort zone’’ – her Christchurch base where she’s had the same coach (Roly Crichton) for 17 years and is surrounded by a supportive family and group of friends.
It was a typically focused attempt on her part to find the ‘‘extra one-per cent, mentally’’ to help her in her drive to the Tokyo Games in 2020.
It worked. She enjoyed England’s warmest summer in years, but her training sojourn ‘‘definitely challenged me mentally and physically, being away from my home comforts – what I call my luxuries,’’ she told Stuff this week.
‘‘To be away for three and a half months was really hard . . . but I will take something out of it.
Pascoe won five medals – three golds and two silvers – in Cairns and then returned home to Christchurch to prepare for her first visit to hospital in years.
She had the fibula and main nerve removed from her stump in a pre-planned operation aimed at enhancing her future well-being.
It was quite a major operation. Recovery will take a little while, but she is keen to get back on her new prosthetic and expects to be able to walk better and train better.
All going well, Pascoe plans to be back in the pool in October.
It’s the longest training break she’s had in ages.
‘‘I’m not used to being housebound, but it’s the best time to do it. Tokyo is only two years away.’’
The Women of Influence winners will be announced on September 18 at the Awards Dinner at SkyCity in Auckland.