A local swimming official never imagined she would have the chance to participate in a Paralympic Games, but that dream will become reality this Friday when she boards a flight to Brazil for Rio 2016.
Sheila Guenther will act as an assistant technical delegate at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games swimming competition that runs Sept. 8 to 17 at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Guenther will assist the top technical delegate with overseeing all technical matters including the setup and conduct of the competition and to ensure International Paralympic Committee (IPC) swimming rules and regulations are upheld.
Guenther said the IPC appointed her to assist the technical delegate at the Games based on her qualifications as an international official for Paralympic swimming and her ability to dedicate the time needed to help oversee the competition. She said in addition to her duties her time in Rio will include a chance to see the Paralympic Games opening and closing ceremonies and a stay in the Athletes’ Village throughout Rio 2016.
“It’s really a great atmosphere because you get to be in the same area as the athletes,” said Guenther, about what she expects to encounter at the Village. “You share the dining facilities with them and you get to see how they interact and it’ll be the athletes there from all the sports as well as other officials from other sports.”
Guenther said the concerns about hosting the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro such as poor water quality for the outdoor swimming competition as well as the Zika virus were allayed thanks in part to the great work of the Rio organizing committee. She said her expectation is the questions surrounding the Paralympic Games will also be answered with positive results once the competition begins.
“I think they’ll be very successful,” she said. For “all the athletes who are involved and myself, (these Games) will be one we won’t forget.”
To help prepare for Rio 2016, Guenther served as an assistant technical delegate at the 2016 IRC Swimming European Open Championships in Funchal, Portugal, from April 30 to May 7. She also completed these duties at a Paralympic Games test event in Rio de Janeiro shortly before the European Open Championships.
“The test event was a chance for us to see the facilities, see the pool there and run a competition,” said Guenther. “It was a lot of national athletes, but there were some other athletes represented from some other countries as well. That was a chance to see how things will work such as the field of play and the victory ceremonies and the on venue results.”
Guenther got her start as a timer with the Estevan Golden Eels and helping out at swim competitions when her kids were members of the club in the mid-1990s. She said from there she continued advancing in the sport eventually becoming a provincial referee allowing her to work at some national meets before earning the rank of a Paralympic swimming international official in 2007 that has taken her across the globe and now into her first Paralympic Games.
“I certainly didn’t expect that, but it just goes to show what you can do if you can keep working at it.”
