Port Hope's Isaac stimulate Paralympians. WHITBY -- Port Hope citizen and member of the Whitby Dolphins swim club Isaac Bouckley will undoubtedly be representing Canada at the Paralympics in London. June 12, 2012 / Metroland WHITBY -- Isaac Bouckley's goals for the Paralympics are both humble and respectable.
Bouckley, an 18-year-old Port Hope citizen who swims with the Whitby Dolphins membership, recognizes that he is really a little young yet to make a big splash in London and has set his sights on creating more of an effect Ebel Watch Imitation at the Rio Games in Brazil four decades from now.
In the bigger picture, though, he cherishes the chance to shed some light on the Paralympics Games, which, coming immediately after the Olympics, in many cases are under an enormous shadow.
"I know a large amount of people do not observe the Paralympics and I get that, it is not as large of a deal, and I'm cool with that, but if I could stimulate even, like, let's say, one likely Paralympic player to just get out there and do an activity and excel in it, that's plenty of I'd say," Bouckley said within a recent interview at the Anne Ottenbrite swimming in Whitby.
"You understand how every baby goals if they begin to see the Olympics, 'Oh, I'd like to head to the Olympics to represent my country.' It's just wonderful that I really arrive at do that. I simply wish to make Canada proud."
There is little doubt he will do just that.
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Bouckley officially learned he was section of Canada's 24-member Paralympic swimming team if the list was published on the web in early June, but he had a pretty good inkling he was planning to be about it following the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic swimming studies in Montreal more than two months earlier.
There, he established personal bests in most his events and brought home three medals, gold in the 50m and 400m freestyle and bronze in the 200m individual medley. He also finished last in the 100m free, fifth in the 100m butterfly, sixth in the 100m breaststroke and seventh in the 100m backstroke.
"We had quite a good experience of who the group was going to be and there are some subtle indications that people may give you because there are other people higher up, like instructors, who know just who's going to be on the team," he explained. "You get asked to camps and stuff and certain things sort of give it away, but at once you are not ever 100 % sure."
Bouckley, who made 18 in April, could be the youngest of the nine men planning, and one of only three from Ontario among the complete group of 24.
He will swim in all seven Paralympic activities -- 100-metre of all four strokes, 50m and 400m freestyle, and 200m IM -- but will zero in on two in particular.
"I am really going for 400 free and 200 IM, these would be the people I'm going to be competitive in, you understand, like, competitively," he explained. "The other people, I am only sort of swimming them. I'm planning to get damaged, but I am OK with that."
As for taking home a medal, he's maybe not relying on that -- only yet.
"I feel in four decades from now, when I'm 22, I've got a much better chance at having the ability to compete. I'm seeing this as a lot like a practice run for Rio four years from Fake Women's Seiko Watches now if I make it," he said. "A honor is really a little out of reach at this point just because it is such a fast field... I think finals at the Paralympics is surely a realistic goal, that is something that's achievable, merely to make finals and do all particular best times."
Bouckley, who features a club foot, is grouped in the S10 class for the Games, which means he is those types of with the smallest amount of restricting disabilities.
He did not start boating competitively until he was in Grade 8, and did not start to excel at it until a former coach had him labeled as a para-swimmer.
"When I got classified, I actually began to teach harder," he described. "There was an apparent jump. I went from being common and got really quickly, really fast and then only got next to. I simply got inspired and it made a big difference."
He now travels from Port Hope to Whitby and swims twice a day, just about any day, in search of a wish that may develop into a reality Aug. 30 to Sept. 8 in London.