Marayke Jonkers with her silver medal from the SM4 150m individual medley at the 2002 IPC World Swimming Championships in Mar del Plata, Argentina |
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| Nationality | Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 13 September 1981 Queensland, Australia |
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Marayke Jonkers (born 13 September 1981) is a Paralympic medal winning swimmer from Queensland, Australia. She won two bronze medals at the 2004 Summer Paralympics and a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics. She attended the University of the Sunshine Coast. She is involved with disability sport advocacy.
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Jonkers was born on 13 September 1981 and is from Queensland, Australia. [1] She lives in Sunshine Coast, Queensland.[2] When she was eight months old, she was involved in a car accident that resulted in her becoming a paraplegic.[2] She uses a wheelchair to get around.[3] She attended university, studying Communications and Social Science[4] at the University of the Sunshine Coast where she earned a pair of Bachelors degrees.[3][5] She works as a motivational speaker.[4][5] In 2009, she became a graduate employment consultant for STEPS Disability Qld Inc.[3]
As part of her university studies, she completed an internship with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation working in with ABC Online and the Stateline television show.[5] She has had stories published in The Sunshine Coast Daily and The Weekender.[5] She answered fashion questions in the April 2008 edition of Link Magazine.[6]
Jonkers has broken more than 70 Australian national swimming records in the breaststroke, individual medley, freestyle and butterfly.[4][7]She also set a world record for the 100 metres butterfly event. [7] She started her competitive swimming career in 1998.[2] Her training included swimming 576 kilometres (358 mi) a year, and training six days a week.[5] She has participated in swimming competitions in over thirteen countries.[5] She compete in the SB3 classification, which means she has a more severe physical disability than those in classifications of 4 to 6.[8] She has also swum in the S4 class.[9] She represents the Maroochydore Swimming Club at national competitions.[10]
Jonkers competed at the 2000 Summer Paralympics, the first time she had represented Australia at the Paralympics.[7] At the 2002 International Paralympic Committee World Championships, she won two swimming silver medals.[7] At the 2004 Summer Paralympics, Jonkers won two swimming bronze medals.[7] She competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, where she was one of Australia's oldest competitors.[9] She earned a silver medal at the Games in the 150m individual medley,[3] with a time of 3:28.88 in the S4 class.[9] In 2009, she set a world record in the 150m individual medley at Australia's national short course championships held in Hobart, Tasmania.[3] In 2010, she competed at the Queensland Swimming Age Multi Class Championships.[8] She competed in the 100m Breaststroke FEMALE event, finishing third with a time of 02:50.59.[8] In 2010, at the age of 30, she also competed at the 2010 Telstra Australian Championships[10]the Over 12 years 150m Medley event where she made the final finished with a time of 4:07.51. [10] She also made the finals in the Over 12 years 50m Breaststroke event. [10] She is training to compete at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.[3]
Jonkers has competed in several paratriathlon competitions, including the 2010 ITU Triathlon World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.[2] The first paratriathlon competition she competed in was in 2009, when she competed in the 2009 ITU Triathlon World Championships in Gold Coast, Queensland.[2][11]
Jonkers is an advocate for disability sport,[7] and encourages children to participate in disability sport.[4] In 2008, she signed a letter asking for a truce to be called in Darfur during the 2008 Summer Olympics.[12]
At the age of 23, Jonkers was named the Queensland Young Achiever 2005 by the Premier.[7] In 2007, she was named the inaugural winner of Cosmopolitan magazine's "fun fearless female award"[13] recognising Australia's most inspirational women who are encouraging others to pursue their dreams.[14] She was featured on page 76 of Cosmopolitan the month that she was recognised.[4] She used her prize money to set up the "Sporting Dreams Fund," which helps to people with disabilities develop their sporting talents.[15] In 2010, she was named the Sporting Wheelie of the Year by Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Sport and Recreation Association of Queensland Inc.[11] In 2011, she was a Australia Day Ambassador.[16]