Esther Overton also has a big-hearted approach to life. Impediments come, but the mindset is that they are life’s challenges to tackle and master.
Esther Overton has arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, a condition which causes muscle weakness and a tendency for bones to break easily.
It also results in joints that are immobile.
Esther Overton also has a big-hearted approach to life. Impediments come, but the mindset is that they are life’s challenges to tackle and master.
Her arm has been broken more than forty times, there have been multiple bulging discs, and she has endured six knee surgeries following the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing.
Esther Overton is a S1 classified swimmer for those who have significant movement difficulties in arms, legs and trunk. They would use a wheelchair for everyday mobility. Swimmers start in the water for all strokes, use assistance for water exit and entry, and complete all strokes on their back
When swimming, she cannot use her arms – and uses her head instead of hands on the touchpad. Her dominant events were the 50m backstroke and 50m freestyle.
It makes sense that Esther should be familiar with water. She started swimming when she was a baby as part of physiotherapy treatment.
But for Esther Overton, it would not stop there. Floating and exercising in water led her to contemplate competing in water – and she did so at age 12.
At age 16, she competed at the 2006 IPC World Championships in Durban, winning silver medals in the 50m butterfly and backstroke.
Her career highpoint came with her first Paralympics’ selection – the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. However, her performances were compromised by two factors: seven weeks before the Games, she had a collapsed lung and one day before the Games commenced, she broke an arm.
Nevertheless, she competed, finishing 5th in the 50m backstroke & 6th in 50m freestyle.
Between the 2008 and 2012 Paralympics, Esther competed at the 2010 Paralympic World Championships, and then at the 2011 Para Pacific Championships, she won a bronze in the 50m backstroke.
In London in 2012, Esther was one of only three South Australians representing the Australian Swimming Team.
She has been inducted into the SwimmingSA Hall of Fame.
