GOING FOR GOLD! La Jolla YMCA Member to Swim for Gold in London!

Roy Perkins has been nominated again to represent the United States in swimming in the 2012 London Paralympics!  In 2008, Roy went to Beijing and took home a gold medal in the 50 butterfly and bronze In the 100 freestyle.  This month he embarks on his next journey which is another shot at gold in the London Paralympics.

Once terrified of the water, 10 years ago, Roy learned to swim at the La Jolla YMCA.  Born without hands or feet he is now a world class athlete.  Roy swims with Coach Don Watkinds and does his dry land strength training at the Y 2-3 days a week in the fitness center working on plyometrics, strength, and flexibility.  In the off seasons Roy is a student at Stanford studying Earth Systems. 

For those that know him, Roy is uber-competittive, thrives in the moment and has a drive to win, no matter what he competes in, even ping pong.  His desire to succeed is motivating and palpable to all those around him and all the while remaining humble.

Regardless of how Roy performs, we all know the wonderful person he is and the inspiration he gives us all.  Roy, we’re all proud to have you as a part of our YMCA family, not just for your accomplishments in the pool, but for your character as a man. 

Here is a list of projected swim times for the days that Roy is swimming.

Thursday, August 30                     50 Freestyle            3:35am prelims/12:24 pm final

Saturday, September1                  200 Freestyle           2:47 am prelims/10:44 am finals

Thursday, September 6                 50 Backstroke          3:17 am prelims/ 11:46 am

Finals

Friday, September 7                     50 Flystroke            3:00 am prelims / 11:11 am finals

Saturday, September 8                 100 Freestyle           2:23 am prelims / 10:35 am finals

There will be more Paralympics coverage this year than ever before. Here are some links if you want to follow Roy on his quest for Gold!

•  U.S. Paralympics YouTube channel: YouTube.com/USParalympics

•  Paralympic.org: 580 hours of live sport plus on-demand video from London 2012.

Paralympic.org will broadcast four streams of uninterrupted live coverage from the Paralympics with English commentary, including daily coverage of swimming, wheelchair basketball and athletics, while a fourth channel will cover a range of sports.

We’ll be posting his results on the La Jolla YMCA’s Facebook page. Good Luck Roy!