As the world prepares for all the excitement of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, we’re looking back on the career of Challenge Community Service’s very own Paralympic swimming star, Sarah-Jane Schulze.
Born in 1967 in Narrabri, Sarah-Jane’s swimming talents were first discovered when she learned to swim at school. “I went to swimming lessons when I was younger at West Haven and they taught me all the strokes. Then when I went to boarding school… I went into, like the school carnivals and then I started at the Camden Swimming Club, and I was beating all my age group.”
The path to the Paralympics
Sarah-Jane’s introduction to the world of competitive swimming came through the Special Olympics in 1989. After sweeping the pool at the Melbourne competition and setting three Australian swimming records in the process, the Schulze family realised that Sarah-Jane’s dreams of swimming on an international stage could soon become a reality. A call from World Para Swimming Chair Anne Green, suggesting that Sarah-Jane apply for the 1992 Paralympic Games, helped cement this idea.
Training for the Paralympic Games was not for the faint of heart. “Wherever I went, I would have to do swimming training. When I was trying for overseas, I was doing 10 sessions per week, twice a day. I’d start at 4:30 am, be in the water at 5 am and then again at 4:30 pm, finishing at 7 pm each night.”
Swimming on the world stage
Sarah-Jane’s relentless dedication paid off, and she was selected to represent Australia at the 1992 Paralympic Games in Madrid where her relay team brought home a silver and two bronze medals. “It was extremely exciting. I knew what was coming though, and when you get chosen to represent your country, you got to put in 100%.” Her international swimming career continued as she went on to represent Australia twice more – first at the International Paralympic Committee World Swimming Championships in Malta in 1994, and again at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games.
Finding new passions
A true athlete at heart, Sarah-Jane has enjoyed competing in various sports over the years including track and field, athletics including shotput, javelin, and discus, and even basketball. More recently, Sarah-Jane has been competing in ten-pin bowling competitions with the Special Olympics. She still trains once a week at the pool and goes to the gym twice a week and enjoys an active life hanging out with her friends at our Tamworth Community Support hub, Connexions Café.
Reflecting on Sarah-Jane’s legacy
Support Worker Allison has worked with Sarah-Jane for nearly four years now and is still amazed each time she sees the trophies and medals lining the walls of Sarah-Jane’s Supported Independent Living home. “What Sarah has accomplished has been just quite phenomenal. When you really see all of that stuff… there are literally hundreds of trophies. There’s that many of them. We did have one (shelf) fall down. It was so weighted that it fell off the wall!”
With the Paralympic Games beginning on Wednesday 28 August, Sarah-Jane says she will be excitedly watching. “I’ve still got my Australian flag, which I’ll tie around my head like a bandana. I watch all the sports – track, field, swimming, and basketball, the rowing, the rugby. And the opening and the closing ceremonies. Tell you what? That’s gonna bring back memories!”
