Summer Mortimer


Summer Ashley Mortimer is a former Canadian-Dutch paraswimmer who competed internationally for Canada, and later the Netherlands national paralympic team, an artist, and a performing artist.
Mortimer won seven world-championship finals for Canada and the Netherlands, and four medals for Canada at her first Paralympic Games in London: two gold, one silver and one bronze.
Mortimer competed in the 2008 Canadian Olympic Trials as an able-bodied swimmer, and retrained as a paraswimmer after a trampolining accident. She began competing at the international level in 2010 with an SM10 classification, setting world records in the process. Competing in six events, Mortimer won medals in all four individual races. She holds world records in the S10 50- and 100-metre long-course freestyle and the 50- 100- and 200-metre backstroke. In 2013 Mortimer applied to join the Netherlands national team, and announced her transfer in June 2014. Winning three medals at the 2014 IPC championships, she set two European records. She did not compete in the 2016 Summer Olympics, citing "serious health reasons."

Sports career

Mortimer began swimming at age two; her mother is a co-owner of the Oakville Swim Academy. At age nine, she began swimming competitively. As a member of the Hamilton Aquatic Club and the Golden Horseshoe Aquatic Club, Mortimer competed at the 2008 Canadian Olympic Trials for the Beijing games.
She is classified SM10, the least-disabled paraswimming classification. SM10 is open to those with "very minimal weakness affecting the legs; Swimmers with restriction of hip joint movement; Swimmers with both feet deformed; Swimmers with one leg amputated below the knee; Swimmers missing one hand. This is the class with the most physical ability".

Paraswimming for Canada

A serious injury at a competitive trampolining event shattered most of the bones in Mortimer's feet; she was nationally ranked in the sport. When she began trying to walk again, she relearned swimming.
Unaware that the Worlds were being broadcast, Mortimer was caught by surprise and stuck her tongue out at the camera. Her relaxed attitude continued at the Olympics, where she said that although there may be "some underlying arrogance", she was not consciously trying to send a message to her rivals. Mortimer wears an elastic band which she snaps when aware of a negative thought; "incredibly hard on myself", it helps her realize the frequency of her "down" thinking and changes her mental perspective.
As a former able-bodied competitive swimmer, she is annoyed by the idea held by some able-bodied swimmers that paralympic swimming is a "joke". "The Paralympics are so much harder than the able-bodied side of sport. I know from first hand. It's way harder"; Mortimer said that she knew "truckloads of able-bodied athletes who constantly make fun of the Paralympics". She hopes for a change in attitude, noting how much change fellow medalist Benoit Huot has seen since the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney.

World-level competition

At the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands, Mortimer won four gold medals and set five world records. In November of that year, she was Female Paraswimmer of the Year at Swimming Canada's Big Splash.
At the April 2012 Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Swimming Trials in Montreal, Mortimer aimed to lower her world record in the 50-metre freestyle from 28.30 seconds to about 28.27; she finished in 28.17 seconds. Between the Trials and the Paralympics, she won the 100-metre backstroke in July at the Canada Cup; this result surprised Mortimer, who had a "rough time" with her feet the previous month. That month, she also won the women's 100-metre S10 at the Speedo Paraswimming CAN-AM in Winnipeg.

London Paralympics

Mortimer qualified for six women's SM10 events at the 2012 London Paralympics—the 200-metre individual medley, 4 × 100 m freestyle relay 34pts, 4 × 100 m medley relay, 50- and 100-metre freestyle and 100-metre backstroke—and expectations for her were high. On August 30, the first day of the competition, Sophie Pascoe of New Zealand won the SM10 200-metre individual medley; Mortimer took the silver medal. For a half-hour before the competition, Mortimer was "bawling her eyes out"; she told The Canadian Press, " here and meeting all these people made me realize I am so incredibly grateful for the experience I’ve had as a result of my accident. I don’t know if this was part of the journey I was supposed to walk in life but I wouldn’t take it back for the world". The next day, she won the S10 50-metre freestyle gold medal in a record time of 28.10 seconds. Mortimer's time was.07 second faster than her April Trials record, and.14 second faster than Pascoe's time; she went into the race "a bit annoyed" and "mad at anyone who was going to take it from me".
In the preliminary round of the 100-metre backstroke Mortimer placed third, and hoped to be away from "the main people" in the finals to maintain her focus. She won the gold medal in the final on September 4, setting a world record of 1:05.90 after overcoming Pascoe's half-second lead at the turn. Mortimer noted that her time was faster than her best able-bodied time.
In the 100-metre freestyle Mortimer finished third, 0.69 second behind Pascoe and France's Elodie Lorandi; Canadian Aurelie Rivard finished fourth. Mortimer's bronze was Canada's only medal on day nine of the competition.
As part of the Canadian women's 34-point 4 × 100 m freestyle relay and 4 × 100 m medley relay teams, Mortimer did not medal. Although her freestyle-relay team clocked 4:38.23, they placed seventh in the finals. With Katarina Roxon, Morgan Bird and Brianna Nelson in the medley relay, Mortimer's team finished seventh and last. Her times of 32.35 for the 50-metre and 1:06.37 for the 100-metre were the fastest for her legs of the events. At the 2012 Olympics, Mortimer's four medals were the most for any Canadian athlete or para-athlete.

After London

Following Mortimer's last individual event at London she said that although she intended to try for the 2013 World Aquatics Championships, the 2015 Parapan American Games, and the 2016 Paralympics, she takes life year-by-year. From October 2012 to April 2013 at least, she planned to take time off to focus on her health.
Mortimer appeared at the Olympic Heroes Parade in Toronto. For the event, Paralympic athletes were given rooms at a hotel on the outskirts of Toronto while Olympic athletes were housed downtown and received gifts; at a dinner, the Paralympians were relegated to a different dining room. A Canadian Paralympic Committee spokesperson told The Spectator that the committee scrambled during the Paralympics to have their athletes included, and with their limited funding they could not afford the perks received by the Olympic athletes.
The athlete is a 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games ambassador, and has given presentations at schools. Mortimer receives honorariums for these appearances, and hoped to earn $3,000 in speaking fees in 2012. She appeared on CBC's Play On! Street Hockey Championship in Niagara Falls, assisted with the post-position draw at the Pattison Canadian International Championship Stakes, and has appeared in publicity photo shoots.
Competitive-swimwear manufacturer Arena sponsors Mortimer. In November 2012, she went public about her and her uncle's difficulty in finding sponsorship since the 2010 Worlds. Mortimer said that Paralympic athletes received no prize money, despite thousands of dollars given by the government to winning Olympians and their coaches. She told The Hamilton Spectator, "We get a pat on the back and a good job note from Stephen Harper. It's upsetting. Trust me, coming from being an able-bodied athlete to a Paralympian, it infuriates me", and that she receives $3,000 a year in funding from the government. Mortimer's return to the pool included the April 9, 2014 Cam Am Para Swimming competition, where she won three gold medals.

Paraswimming for the Netherlands

In 2013, Mortimer applied to switch to the Netherlands national team; since her mother is from that country, she has dual citizenship. In June 2014, the Hamilton Spectator reported the change. Although day-to-day funding in the Netherlands is similar to that in Canada, the former offers prize money; in the 2012 Paralympics, Mortimer would have won $60,000 for her gold medals alone. She will train in Amersfoort.
She was successful at the August 2014 IPC Swimming European Championships in Eindhoven. Breaking the women's 50-metre freestyle record in the morning's heats, Mortimer lowered it again to 28.12 in the finals. In the S10 100-metre backstroke, she broke the European record in the morning's heats and again in the final. Although she won a gold medal, she told the IPC website: "I wanted a world record. I'm not satisfied, I'm not super happy. That wasn't the perfect race. But this was a gauge to see where I am at."

Awards

The Big Splash
Ontario Sport Award
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
Mortimer, Melissa Tancredi and Cory Conacher were nominated for the 2013 Golden Horseshoe Athlete of the Year for residents of Hamilton or Burlington. Tancredi won. Columnist Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star listed Mortimer as a contender for the 2012 Lou Marsh Trophy.

Arts career

In 2012, Mortimer illustrated The Night I Met the Boogie Man, written by her twin sister Julia, and created murals
In 2012, Mortimer's work was included in the Talent Supporting Talent Canadian Athlete Art Exhibit, a fundraiser at the Jane Roos Gallery in Toronto. Her first solo art exhibition was at the Station Coffee House and Gallery in 2015.
After her swimming career, Mortimer refocused in the arts, including the visual arts and performing arts, becoming a Vocal Performance major at Mohawk College. She discovered her passion for theatre when working as a vocal coach and assistant music director for Burlington Student Theatre.
She was a nominee at the 2019 City of Hamilton Arts Awards, for the Emerging Media Arts Award.
Mortimer also works as a "princess performer" for entertainment company Forever Fairest.

Personal life

In November 2008, shortly after the Olympic trampoline trials, 15-year-old Mortimer missed the sponge pit after bouncing on a mini-trampoline and fell onto a concrete pad; her parents, spectators at the competition, saw the accident. The bones in her feet were shattered, and doctors suggested that she would never stand again. Amputation was a possibility, although Mortimer was only informed of it in 2011.
She spent six months in a wheelchair and another 18 months on crutches. Mortimer's right foot has six screws and a plate, and her left foot has two screws; her ankles are continuously sore, and occasionally lock up. During the Paralympics she told the Canadian Press that her feet were "killing" her, and her condition is degenerative. When Mortimer's casts were removed her walking rehabilitation was in the water, and she thinks she would not be able to walk without the aquatic rehab. Before the injury, she had 10 sessions per week in the pool in addition to weight training and running. After the accident her weekly threshold at the local YMCA pool was and four sessions in the weight room. Her disability is not usually evident to spectators, and according to the Canadian Press she walks with a "halfway normal gait."
Sportsnet Magazine chose Mortimer for its 2013 "Beauty of Sport" issue, and she was photographed in Las Vegas wearing a bikini. She hoped to increase interest in paralympic sport and to celebrate the bodies of all athletes.
She is a graduate of Westmount Secondary School. She was named after Summer Sanders, an American Olympic swimmer who won four medals at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, one year before she was born.

Footnotes