{"id":3338,"date":"2021-09-01T19:32:23","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T23:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inspirationpost.com\/?p=3338"},"modified":"2021-09-02T21:32:01","modified_gmt":"2021-09-03T01:32:01","slug":"this-17-year-old-swimmer-and-tiktoker-just-won-gold-at-the-paralympics-in-tokyo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inspirationpost.com\/2021\/09\/01\/this-17-year-old-swimmer-and-tiktoker-just-won-gold-at-the-paralympics-in-tokyo\/","title":{"rendered":"This 17-Year-Old Swimmer and TikToker Just Won Gold at the Paralympics in Tokyo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As the U.S. Athletes continue to dominate the Tokyo Paralympics, a 17-year-old has also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teamusa.org\/News\/2021\/August\/26\/Para-Swimmers-Anastasia-Pagonis-Gia-Pergolini-Win-Team-USAs-First-Golds-In-World-Record-Style\"><strong>broken her own world record<\/strong><\/a> of 400-meter freestyle swimming at 4:54:49.<\/p>\n<p>This New Yorker is in many ways, your typical teenager. She posts videos on TikTok and absolutely loves her dog. However, there is one thing that makes Anastasia Pagonis far from average. She just won gold at the Tokyo Paralympics for swimming, and just like any other teenager on TikTok, she used the platform to celebrate with her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@anastasia_k_p?\"><strong>two-million supporters<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0of the major win.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"tiktok-embed\" style=\"max-width: 605px; min-width: 325px;\" cite=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@anastasia_k_p\/video\/7000732157744286982\" data-video-id=\"7000732157744286982\">\n<section><a title=\"@anastasia_k_p\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@anastasia_k_p\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@anastasia_k_p<\/a>not sure how to feel<a title=\"\u266c original sound - iwannatrypercs????\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/music\/original-sound-6963800159088151302\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u266c original sound &#8211; iwannatrypercs????<\/a><\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When Anastasia was 14-years-old, she rapidly lost her sight over the course of two months because of an autoimmune disease. The Paralympian has genetic autoimmune retinopathy, which means her immune system attacks her retinas. She told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.today.com\/pets\/paralympic-blind-swimmer-new-york-islanders-trained-guide-dog-team-t190817\"><strong>TODAY<\/strong><\/a> how losing her sight was a struggle, on top of being a teenage girl.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing a teenage girl is hard, so having that on top of it was just such a struggle for me,\u201d she said. \u201cIt took me about eight months to kind of regroup myself, and then I got it in my head, \u2018OK, I\u2019m blind. Now what am I going to do with my life?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She told <a href=\"https:\/\/olympics.com\/tokyo-2020\/en\/paralympics\/news\/anastasia-tas-pagonis-loving-life-again-with-the-help-of-a-four-legged-friend\"><strong>Olympics.com<\/strong><\/a> when she lost her vision, she dropped into a \u201cdark depression.\u201d She felt \u201cextremely suicidal\u201d but with her dog by her side, she was never alone.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s when she got into competitive swimming. Six months prior to losing her vision, Anastasia was a mid-distance freestyler who took swimming up as a sport and decided to return back to swimming afterward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s my happy place. It\u2019s the place where I feel like I don\u2019t have a disability and I feel like that\u2019s the only place where I feel free. When I dive in the water, it\u2019s just me in the pool and I feel such a connection with it,\u201d she told TODAY.<\/p>\n<p>Before making her Paralympic debut in Tokyo, the Paralympian swimmer won two gold medals at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paralympic.org\/swimming\/classification\"><strong>World Para Swimming World Series<\/strong><\/a> in Australia just before the coronavirus pandemic shut things down. Now, according to Team USA, she\u2019s broken the world record she set earlier in June at the US Paralympic Trials.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you told me this a few years ago, I wouldn\u2019t even think I\u2019d be alive, so just being here and being able to have this experience and this opportunity \u2013 unbelievable,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/08\/29\/sport\/paralympics-anastasia-pagonis-gold-medal-trnd\/index.html\"><strong>Anastasia said<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to breaking world records, and winning gold at the Paralympics, Anastasia is using the social media app TikTok to educate her viewers about her disability. She pokes fun at some of the questions asked on the platform about her blindness and also attempts many popular TikTok dances with the help of her mom.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"tiktok-embed\" style=\"max-width: 605px; min-width: 325px;\" cite=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@anastasia_k_p\/video\/6965936567710010630\" data-video-id=\"6965936567710010630\">\n<section><a title=\"@anastasia_k_p\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@anastasia_k_p\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@anastasia_k_p<\/a>Fun times<a title=\"\u266c original sound - Anastasia Pagonis\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/music\/original-sound-6965936490543090437\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u266c original sound &#8211; Anastasia Pagonis<\/a><\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Yet, she tries to keep her videos educational for her viewers. She shows the viewers how she\u2019s able to swim in the pool without bumping into the wall, with the help of someone standing outside the pool and tapping her on the head with a swimming \u2018noodle\u2019 so she knows when its time to turn, as well as how she does her makeup.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just want to teach people that this is blind, not just what you think is blind where you have to wear sunglasses and you can\u2019t do anything,\u201d she told Team USA. \u201cThis is blind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"tiktok-embed\" style=\"max-width: 605px; min-width: 325px;\" cite=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@anastasia_k_p\/video\/6987436273950526726\" data-video-id=\"6987436273950526726\">\n<section><a title=\"@anastasia_k_p\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@anastasia_k_p\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@anastasia_k_p<\/a>I leave for Tokyo in three weeks!!!<a title=\"\u266c original sound - Anastasia Pagonis\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/music\/original-sound-6987436126042688261\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u266c original sound &#8211; Anastasia Pagonis<\/a><\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As the Paralympian continues to educate her viewers and break records, she\u2019ll be competing again in Friday\u2019s 50-meter freestyle, Monday\u2019s 200-meter individual medley, and next Friday\u2019s 100-meter freestyle, where she\u2019ll have the chance to win even more medals for Team USA.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; As the U.S. Athletes continue to dominate the Tokyo Paralympics, a 17-year-old has also broken her own world record of 400-meter freestyle swimming at 4:54:49. This New Yorker is in many ways, your typical teenager. She posts videos on TikTok and absolutely loves her dog. However, there is one thing that makes Anastasia Pagonis [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inspirationpost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3338"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inspirationpost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inspirationpost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspirationpost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspirationpost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3338"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspirationpost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3357,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspirationpost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3338\/revisions\/3357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspirationpost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inspirationpost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspirationpost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspirationpost.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}