Katja Dedekind


Katja Dedekind is an Australian Paralympic vision-impaired swimmer and goalball player. She won a swimming bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games.

Personal

Dedekind was born 17 August 2001 in Durban, South Africa. She has a twin brother. From congenital cataracts and amblyopia, she is blind in the right eye and has limited vision in the left eye.
Previously from Kenmore, Brisbane, she now lives on the Sunshine Coast and attends a local high school.
In March 2018, Dedekind had the honour of being a Queen's Baton Relay runner as one of 3500 Australians for the XXI Commonwealth Games.

Sporting career

Dedekind competes in swimming and goalball. In swimming, she is classified as S13.
She took up goalball in 2012 after attending a ‘come and try’ day. At the 2012, Australian Goalball Championships in Melbourne, she was awarded the title ‘Best Defensive Junior Player’. She was a member of the winning team at the 2013 Australian Invitational Cup in Sydney.
Dedekind took up swimming at an early age with her twin brother, but did not start competing until 2012. At the 2015 Swimming Queensland Sprint Championships, she was awarded the 'Swimmer of the Meet' award for swimmers with a disability. In 2015, she won three gold and five silver medals at the 2015 SSA Pacific School Games. At 2016 Australian Swimming Championships, she won the bronze medal in the women's 200 m freestyle and finished fifth women's 50 m backstroke and women's 50 m butterfly. She is a member of the UQ Swim Club and was coached by David Heyden.
In 2016, Dedekind was selected to represent Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. She competed in four events and achieved one podium finish. She won a bronze medal in the women's 100 m backstroke S13. She achieved seventh in 400 m freestyle S13. but didn't progress to the finals in 50 m freestyle S13, 100 m freestyle S13 and 100 m freestyle S13.
In August 2018 at the Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships in Cairns, Queensland, just before her seventeenth birthday, Dedekind took gold with her fastest competitive time for the 100 m backstroke. She also achieved bronze in the women’s 200 m individual medley for the SM12/13 classification, and silver in the 400 m freestyle S13. A member of the Australian Dolphins swim team, Dedekind is preparing for 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, with her coach Nathan Doyle.
Her motto is 'If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you'.

Recognition