Imagine What We Can Do: Katja Dedekind

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Almost immediately after she became World Champion in the 50 metres freestyle, Katja Dedekind set about improving her performance.

There was a brief window of time to celebrate the gold and two silver medals she won at the Championships in Portugal before her focus shifted to the next big opportunity, the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

There, barely six weeks after her breakthrough international triumph, Dedekind produced a blistering time of 26.56s to win again and this time establish a new world record for the 50m freestyle S13.

Anyone who’s followed Dedekind’s progress would hardly have been surprised. The 22-year-old South Africa-born swimmer has made a habit of achieving the unlikely, seemingly thriving off the limitations some have tried to place on her.

“There was definitely a lot of ‘proving people wrong’,” she said. “Not just in my swimming career but also in life itself.

“They said I’d always need help and always be dependent on my parents and everything. But now I'm a homeowner with a dog, living by myself but still living my full time career as an athlete.”

To find out more about Katja Dedekind and Paralympics Australia, visit our website: https://www.paralympic.org.au/

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