Jay Dohnt
Jay Dohnt is one of the many incredible athletes with disabilities. Born on the 20th of November 1989, 13 years later, Jay was diagnosed with Meningococcal disease. This lead him to losing both his legs and all his fingers on one hand. Ever since this life-changing experience, he dreamed of swimming in the Paralympic Games.
Jay was born in Ferryden Park, South Australia, starting competing in 2003, and first competed for his homeland, Australia in 2008. He has previously competed in the latest Paralympic Games, the first in Beijing 2008, and the second in London 2012. Dohnt's greatest achievement throughout his whole career is his winning of the bronze medal in Beijing for swimming 400m freestyle. Finishing seventh in the 100m breaststroke at the London Paralympic Games, he soon found out he had a serious shoulder injury leading up to the games. Jay holds a scholarship at both the Australian Institute of Sport and the South Australian Sports Institute. In 2011, he competed in the men's 400m freestyle race at the Para Pan Pacific Championships in Edmonton, Canade and won a silver medal. In 2005 Jay was awarded with the Pride of` Australia Courage Award, and in 2007 he was presented with the Athlete of the Year award in South Australian Wheelchair Sports. In 2009 he became apart of the Swimming South Australia Hall of Fame and in 2011, he got the Tanya Denver Award. Jay is also a passionate golfer and takes regular golf lessons to pursue this interest. |