Next stop the Paralympics for shark attack survivor Caleb Swanepoel, who is due to graduate from the University of Cape Town on April 16.
Image: University of Cape Town
The dance and performance student made a remarkable recovery after losing his right leg to a shark when he was in his first year at UCT.
He returned to the water two months later and has since excelled at surfing and swimming. He won his division in the International Surfing Association Adaptive Surfing Championships and is eyeing the world championships in California.
As a swimmer, he qualified for Western Province and has competed in the last three national championships. In 2018 he won medals in the long-course and short-course championships, and hopes to join the SA swimming team at the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo.
Swanepoel, who is also a motivational speaker and has aspirations to act in productions of Shakespeare’s plays in the UK, said after the 2015 shark attack in Buffels Bay, near Knysna, “I thought I wouldn’t go back to varsity for a while.”
He added: “I thought I’d have six months off to figure things out, do a course or two and just relax. Get into lazy mode.”
But staff at UCT’s Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies, told him: “We’re going to do everything we can to accommodate you, but please, come back.”
Senior lecturer Clare Stopford said Swanepoel had been tenacious. “His courage paved the way for other differently abled students in the drama department to join with confidence, while his determination has offered many teachers the opportunity to extend and adapt their skills to teaching differently bodied students,” she said.
The student, then 20, from the Karoo town of Prince Albert, was attacked by a shark while surfing with his brothers, Joshua and Alexander.
