Marayke Jonkers

Marayke Jonkers

Marayke Jonkers with her silver medal from the SM4 150 m individual medley at the 2002 IPC World Swimming Championships in Mar del Plata, Argentina
Personal information
Nationality	Australia
Born	(1981-09-13) 13 September 1981 Hobart
Medal record Swimming Paralympic Games Bronze 2004 Athens Women's 50 m Breaststroke SB3 Bronze 2004 Athens Women's 150 m Individual Medley SM4 Silver 2008 Beijing Women's 150 m Individual Medley SM4 IPC Swimming World Championships Silver 2002 Mar Del Plata Women's 150 m Individual Medley SM4 Silver 2002 Mar Del Plata Women's 50 m Breaststroke

Marayke Jonkers (born 13 September 1981) is an Australian Paralympic swimmer and paratriathlon competitor. She won two bronze medals at the 2004 Athens Paralympics and a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

Personal

Jonkers was born on 13 September 1981 in Hobart,^[1] and moved to Queensland as a baby.^[2] She lives in the Sunshine Coast of Queensland.^[3] She became a paraplegic due to a car accident at the age of eight months.^[3] She studied Communications and Social Science at the University of the Sunshine Coast where she received two Bachelors degrees.^[4][5][6] She works as a motivational speaker.^[4][6] In 2009, she became a graduate employment consultant for STEPS Disability Qld.^[5]

As part of her university studies, she completed an internship with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation working in ABC Online and the Stateline television show.^[6] She has had stories published in The Sunshine Coast Daily and The Weekender.^[6] She answered fashion questions in the April 2008 edition of Link Magazine.^[7]

Sporting career

Jonkers broke more than 70 Australian national swimming records in the breaststroke, individual medley, freestyle and butterfly.^[4][8] She also set a world record for the 100 m butterfly event.^[8] She started her competitive swimming career in 1998.^[3] Her training included swimming 576 kilometres (358 mi) a year, and training six days a week.^[6] She has participated in swimming competitions in over thirteen countries.^[6] She competed in the SB3 classification, which means she has a more severe physical disability than those in classifications of 4 to 6.^[9] She has also swum in the SM4 classification.^[10] She represents the Maroochydore Swimming Club at national competitions.^[11]

Jonkers' first Paralympics was the 2000 Sydney Games.^[8][12] At the 2002 IPC Swimming World Championships, she won two swimming silver medals.^[8] At the 2004 Athens Paralympics, Jonkers won two swimming bronze medals in the Women's 150 m Individual Medley SM4 and Women's 50 m Breaststroke SB3 events.^[8][12] She competed at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, where she was one of Australia's oldest swimmers.^[10] She won a silver medal at the Games in the Women's 150 m Individual Medley SM4 event^[5][12] with a time of 3:28.88.^[10] In 2009, she set a world record in the 150 m individual medley at Australia's national short course championships held in Hobart.^[5] In 2010, she competed at the Queensland Swimming Age Multi Class Championships.^[9] She competed in the women's 100 m Breaststroke event, finishing third with a time of 02:50.59.^[9] In 2010, at the age of 30, she also competed at the 2010 Telstra Australian Championships^[11] the Over 12 years 150 m Medley event where she made the final finished with a time of 4:07.51.^[11] She also made the finals in the Over 12 years 50 m Breaststroke event.^[11]

Jonkers' first paratriathlon competition was the 2009 ITU Triathlon World Championships in the Gold Coast; she also competed in the 2010 championships in Budapest.^[3][13] She had an Australian Institute of Sport Paralympic swimming scholarship.^[14]

Recognition

At the age of 23, Jonkers was named the 2005 Queensland Young Achiever by Premier Peter Beattie.^[8] In 2007, she was named the inaugural winner of Cosmopolitan magazine's "fun fearless female award"^[15] recognising Australia's most inspirational women who are encouraging others to pursue their dreams.^[16] 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.^[17] In 2010, she was named the Sporting Wheelie of the Year by the Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association.^[13] In 2011, she was an Australia Day Ambassador.^[18]

References

External links

• Official website