At the 2008 Paralympic Summer Games in Beijing, China on September 6-18, 2008, Roy Perkins ’08 - ranked in the top five in the world in five of the seven events - will be swimming the 50m butterfly, 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle; the 50m backstroke; the 100m breaststroke; and, the 200m individual medley. Roy is a world record holder in the butterfly and #1 in the world.
The Paralympics is the world’s second-largest sporting event after the Olympics. Since 1988, the games have been held at the same venue as the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. For the 2008 Beijing Summer Games, there will be 260 athletes in the U.S. delegation competing in 19 sports.
There are 38 swimmers (20 men, 18 women) on the U.S. team, competing in 10 functional and three visually impaired classifications. Roy's classification is S5 (for freestyle and butterfly)/SB4 (for breaststroke)/SM5 (for medleys). Roy is the current world-record holder for the S5 50m and 100m butterfly. Roy is scheduled to compete on September 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 15, 2008.
Roy has been accepted to Stanford University and plans to attend the university beginning in 2009.
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