At just 15, Isabella Vincent was the youngest athlete on the Australian Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Team.
Isabella Vincent’s favourite quote: “If you want the rainbow, you have to put up with the rain,” reveals a deep perspective possessed by this young woman.
Born with sacral agenisis cuadral regression syndrome, affecting the development of her lower spine leaving her unable to use her legs in the water, her philosophical perspective is both mature and perceptive.
She found her love of swimming through the requisite hydrotherapy addressing her life’s challenges. It was encouragement from her hydrotherapist that prompted Isabella to join the Norwood Swimming Club’s ENable program, a multi-class program for swimmers with a disability.
Under head coach Shaun Curtis and Alana Fuller, a love for her movement in the water was immediate and her progression was rapid to say the least. At just 15, Isabella Vincent was the youngest athlete on the Australian Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Team.
She had set her sights on the Paris 2024 Olympics but her selection for Tokyo followed dominating performances at the 2021 Australian Age Swimming Championships where she claimed 5 gold medals, 3 silver and 1 bronze.
On the announcement of her Olympic selection, her classmates at Pembroke School decorated her school locker with Australia’s green and gold ribbons.
At Tokyo 2020, she claimed a silver medal in the Women’s 4x100m freestyle relay (34 points), while taking a bronze medal in the women’s 4x100m medley relay (34 points).
Following her first Olympic experience, Isabella Vincent was selected in the Australian Commonwealth Games team, resulting in fifth places in the 100m backstroke and breaststroke.
Isabella Vincent has been inducted into Swimming SA’s Hall of Fame.
