First Time Paralympians Series

Welcome to our new profile series highlighting Ontario's first time Olympic and Paralympic qualifiers who will be in Paris this summer.

Emma Van Dyk has a few words for some medical professionals.

When she was very young, doctors told her family that their diagnosis of her health revealed she would never talk or walk. They said she had fetal hypoxia, 11p deletion syndrome. It’s a rare genetic syndrome.

Now that she’s a 21-year-old, Van Dyk can remind them that she’s able to walk, talk – and do much more.

There is a reason for everything.

You may have heard the expression “today is better when you’ve taken care of tomorrow”.

Let’s alter that a bit to something more realistic. How about, “today is better when you have taken care of yesterday”.

Confidence can go a long way for a person – and, especially, when that individual is Van Dyk. It’s hard to imagine what she has gone through, but we’ll try share some of it.

Very much gung-ho in her attitude to excel, the benefactor of an insatiable personality and emboldened with a demeanour of hope and success, Van Dyk is taking care of things she started in past. As a result, she will be doing something she had never done in her life.

Not only has she raised the notoriety of her hometown of Port Colborne, Van Dyk has spotlights shining her way. Van Dyk, a five-time Canadian record holder, earned a spot on the Canadian team that will compete against the world at the 2024 Paralympic Games this summer in Paris. She just might be the first swimmer from her community to represent Canada at this global event.

When speaking with her, what comes across clearly, and precisely, is her courage, tenacity, strength and willpower. Yes, all of that – and more. She’s on a mission.

Ever since she was young, taking those early steps of walking, that’s when her parents introduced her to swim lessons. Water therapy sessions would follow at the Niagara Children’s Centre in St. Catharines. That just may have paved the way to aquatics stardom.

“I was seven years old when I started to swim competitively – and haven’t looked back,” said Van Dyk, who was born in Hamilton. “I really enjoy being in the water and one thing led to another. Training, support from others, great coaching and encouragement from my family It’s all contributed to where I am today.”

In the water eight times a week, Van Dyk is a member of the Brock Niagara Aquatics swim club, which uses the facilities at Brock University in St. Catharines. Bit by bit, day by day, Van Dyk noticed times in the backstroke were improving. Others also noticed her hard work was leading to something bigger than a swim in the pool.

That invoked confidence and, as the saying goes, things just took off.

Van Dyk was classified in the S14 category for international competition. That encompasses swimmers who have an intellectual impairment. In most cases, the classification pertains to athletes having difficulties with pattern recognition, sequencing, and memory. It also includes those having a slower reaction time, which impact on sport performance.

Classifications are carried out by a panel of medical and technical experts, who are responsible for evaluating the impact of the impairment of an athlete on specific tasks and activities fundamental to the sport and the athlete's sporting performance.

For her, the focus is on therapy and hard work.

As a 17-year-old, Van Dyk had an experience she’ll never forget. While in Italy, prepping for a swim event, police knocked on her door at the Athletes Village. Instructions had been given that the event was cancelled. An evacuation plan was in effect. She had to pack quickly, like the others, taken to the airport, and sent home because of the world-wide pandemic.

For Van Dyk, there have been positive experiences at three previous international events.

As for her first one outside of Canada, the Parapan American Games, she won a bronze medal in the 100-metres butterfly held in Lima, Peru in 2019. Three years later at the World Para swim championships in Madeira, Portugal, she was a member of the 4 x 100-metres freestyle relay team that placed fourth. They also broke the Canadian record.

At the 2023 Parapan American Games in Santiago Chile, Van Dyk won bronze in the 100-metres backstroke. She also placed sixth in the 200-metre freestyle, 200-metre individual medley, and 100-metre butterfly.

That brings us to 2024 and the Olympic & Paralympic Trials at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre. Van Dyk was at her best again, setting a Canadian record in the S14 100-metres backstroke timed in one minute, 10.99 seconds in the preliminaries. It was the third time in the same year that Van Dyk improved on her record swims. Since 2022, she also holds the top times in the 400-metres individual medley and the 200-metres butterfly.

As for her reaction to becoming a first time Paralympian?

“I finished fifth in the final and was scared that I wouldn’t make the team going to Paris,” she said. “I was sitting in the bleachers watching the competition, talking with friends, when I got an e-mail that said I made the team. I was so happy and in shock. Then, I was approached by someone I had never seen before confirming everything. It was something I will never forget.”

Worth noting, Van Dyk had a major setback last year. Walking down a few steps at her home, she tripped and broke several bones in her foot.

“I thought I was done, no way I’d be making anything,” she said. “I wore an air boot, was on crutches and had a bag wrapped around my foot for two months. But here I am, recovered and ready (for the Paralympics). Willpower. It’s always been my dream – to compete at the highest level.”

David Grossman is a veteran multi award-winning Journalist and Broadcaster with some of Canada’s major media, including the Toronto Star and SPORTSNET 590 THE FAN, and a Public Relations professional for 50+ years in Canadian sports and Government relations.