Meet the Kiwi para swimmer gunning for gold, who got knocked out cold playing wheelchair basketball

Jesse Reynolds is one tough cookie, not only did he break his leg a week before the Rio 2016 Paralympics, a few years before that, he was also knocked out cold and suffered a broken wrist while playing wheelchair basketball.

The 21-year-old swimmer will race for New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games, competing in the S9 100m freestyle, S9 100m backstroke, and SB8 100m breaststroke.

He says his biggest fear leading up to the games was suffering another injury, having been forced to swim on painkillers at Rio after breaking his leg.

It's not the first bad injury he's suffered either.

A former Waikato rep in wheelchair basketball, he was forced to call time on that past-time after suffering a double dose of bad luck on court.

"It's a pretty brutal sport, it's full contact," he said.

"One day we were in a competition pushing around, I got smashed by some big guy and someone ran over my arm, breaking my wrist.

"I ended up having to stop because my coach forced me quit."

This time around, however, his main concern has been getting used to the outdoor pool, training in the open air once a week in New Zealand to get used to the difference. 

"The backstroke is probably where you’ll notice it the most - usually you get to follow a roof line, and so without a roof you have nothing to follow.

"In preparation for that, since we haven’t swum outside in two or three years, we've been doing a session a week outdoors."

SHARE ME

More Stories