Members of Excellence
head in the game From sitting atop the podium at multiple Paralympic Games, to fearlessly skiing down double black diamond runs, Donovan Tildsley lives life well outside of his comfort zone – and on his own terms
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his past summer many of us watched the greatest athletes in sport showcase their immense talents at the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. Although the event was delayed by a year, the international community came together amidst a global pandemic, demonstrating that hope, hard work, and perseverance pays off. Member and Paralympic medalist swimmer Donovan Tildesley knows this all too well. “I wasn’t out there to gain awards. It just sort of happened as a result of the hours, days, and years swimming back and forth from one side of the pool to the other”, he humbly says as he reminisces on an illustrious career that garnered two silver and three bronze Paralympic medals. Tildesley was born completely blind with Leber's congenital Amaurosis, a rare degeneration of the retina causing vision impairment. However, this circumstance did not dissuade
All those early mornings getting up and training before school had come to this thing...this medal around my neck. his parents, Deborah and the late Dr. Hugh Tildesley, from teaching Donovan how to swim at six months old. Swimming became an integral fixture in his life and began the path to a considerable number of world championships. “Basically, the reason we joined the Club was because my dad came home from work one day and found out that my Mom had waited four hours in line at the community centre to register me for a program,” Donovan mentions. “[My father] contacted The Arbutus Club and luckily had the means to join.” Becoming a member in 1990, Donovan has been a regular in the pool, training for competitions and being part of The Arbutus Club Swim Team. “I have been getting into lane 2 early in the morning for 22 years this September”, Tildesley reflects.
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The Bark fa l l 2021
