Simone Kruger from South Africa’s will compete at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. The shot put and discus specialist is already a double world record holder. She has cerebral palsy.
Tokyo, Japan (27 July 2021) – The 16-year-old Simone Kruger is one of South Africa’s favourite athletes competing at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. The shot put and discus athlete is already a double world record holder.
“I broke the discus world record again last year,” she says.
Kruger was born with a stroke and has cerebral palsy, which puts her in the F38 class. When she was born, the memory of the right side of her body was lost.
“It was a shocker actually, I don’t know what to think about it, to be honest, but to have the longest distance thrown in my disability category is great. I’m currently throwing 34.52m,” she added.
New World Record! Simone Kruger has just thrown a massive 38.63m in the F38 discus. That slices a huge 5.68m off the previous record. The South African gives us her reaction here. #JuniorWorlds #ParaAthletics #Nottwil2019 👊💪 pic.twitter.com/pUxLcfOSdU
— Para Athletics (@ParaAthletics) August 3, 2019
Kruger says without sport; she’d be lying in bed all day. It brought her lots of opportunities, especially to see the world. The Paralympics will be amazing for that, meeting new people from different sports – cycling and swimming and all that. But overall, working for the gold medal is apparently her big ambition.
Competition is a family affair for Kruger.
“My sister is one of the people that got me the furthest into this,” she says.
“I started practising shot put with her, just for the fun of it. After that I enjoyed it so much I kept going.
“My dad is one of my biggest inspirations and role models. He and my mum have done everything for me since I was young, getting me to physios, buying machines to help me walk and get better.
“And my dad is now my daily coach, from Monday to Friday. We work well together. We train at my school, which is just two minutes away, and on the weekend we see another coach to work on my technique, then bring what we learn back home to develop.
The date for the Paralympic Games to begin has been set as Tuesday, August 24, 2021. It will conclude on Sunday, August 5, 2021.
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