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Katherine Rose Downie OAM (born 12 January 1996) is an Australian Paralympian. Kat first represented Australia in 2011. Kat represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in swimming and was a member of both the Gold medal Women's 34 point 4 x 100 free and 4 × 100 medley relay teams. Kat placed fourth in both her pet events the 100 backstroke and 200IM.
 2012 Australian Paralympic team portrait of Downie | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Katherine Rose Downie | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Kat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 12 January 1996 Aberdeen, Scotland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Backstroke, freestyle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classifications | S10, SB9, SM10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Perth City Swim Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coach | Matt Magee | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Katherine lives with mild right hemiplegic spastic cerebral palsy and is an Australian S10 classified swimmer.
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Downie was born on 12 January 1996 in Aberdeen, Scotland.[1][2][3][4] She has right hemiplegia spastic cerebral palsy",[1] a condition she has had since birth.[1] As of 2012[update], Katherine is an Architecture student at Curtin University.[1][failed verification]
Downie is an S10 classified swimmer.[1][5] She is a member of the Perth City Swim Club,[6] and is coached by Matt Magee.[1] She has set three world records,[2][6] all at the 2011 Australian National Open Short Course Championships.[2] The records were for the 100m freestyle, 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke events.[2][3][7][8][9]
Downie learned to swim as a baby/toddler in Aberdeen Scotland. She became a competitive swimmer in 2007 when she was ten years old.[1][2][6] She first represented Australia in an international competition in 2011.[1] She competed at the 2011 Arafura Games.[1] She participated in the 2012 Australian Swimming Championships/London Olympic Trials in Australia as a sixteen-year-old. She finished second in the 200m individual medley event with a time of 2.34.21. She had a personal best time of 1.02.88 in the 100m freestyle, personal best time of 29.03 in the 50m freestyle, and personal best time of 32.04 in the 50m butterfly.[6][9] In the women's 50m backstroke multi class event, she finished second with a time of 33.62.[10] She was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.[5][9][11] She attended a Paralympic farewell ceremony at Perth's State Basketball Centre in late July.[12] She competed in nine events and won two gold medals as a member of the Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle and 4 × 100 m Medley Relay (34 points) teams.[13]
Competing at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, she won a silver medal in the Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM10 and bronze medal in the Women's 100 m Backstroke S10.[14][15]
She was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in the 2014 Australia Day Honours "for service to sport as a Gold Medallist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games."[4] In 2013 and 2014, she was awarded Wheelchair Sports WA Junior Sports Star of the Year.[16][17][non-primary source needed]
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