Casey TigerShark Ellie Cole wants to add a gold medal to her three minor medals from last year’s Beijing Paralympics. 33935 Picture: Stewart ChambersBy Marc McGowan
A BLISSFULLY unaware Ellie Cole spent the second day after doctors amputated her right leg riding up and down the Royal Children’s Hospital hallway on her stomach on a skateboard.
It was the first sign that the then three-year-old was going to be okay after a battle with cancer.
Fast forward 14 years and Cole is a triple Paralympic medal-winning swimmer after an incredible debut at that level in Beijing last year.
But it was that nondescript moment at hospital when the new Casey TigerShark’s doctors and parents, Jenny and Don, realised just how remarkable she was.
Jenny admitted last week she feared her daughter would lose that natural spirit when she and her husband made the ‘heart-wrenching’ decision to allow doctors to amputate Cole’s leg.
“I didn’t know why I thought that way, but it was a massive relief when she woke up and I saw it was still the same girl that I gave birth to and that she was alive,” Jenny said.
“OK, she’s minus the limb, but she’s still the same kid.”
Jenny enrolled Cole in swimming lessons at Kings Swimming Club in Frankston six months after the operation as part of the recovery process.
Instructors predicted she would take up to a year to learn to swim in a straight line.
Cole took just two weeks.
A champion was born.
Cole represented her country as a 14-year-old at the International Paralympic Committee World Swimming Championships in South Africa in 2006.
She duly won a silver medal in her pet event the 100m backstroke.
But Cole was still shocked with her Beijing success that included a silver in the 100m butterfly and bronze in both the 400m freestyle and 100m backstroke.
“People try to explain, but you can’t explain how unreal Beijing was,” she said.
“It feels kind of surreal to me. I don’t actually feel like it’s happened; the only proof I have is the medals and photos.
“It feels like something that can’t happen to you, but it did and I’m happy that it did!”
Cole’s swimming journey hasn’t been as smooth as it appears.
She revealed that she ‘hated’ swimming after returning from South Africa and contemplated quitting the sport several times before Beijing.
“Even two weeks before Beijing I wanted to quit, but then I went to Beijing and saw how awesome it was and you can’t give something like that up,” Cole said.
“I got back and had a few months off and realised I can’t live without it, so that’s why I’m still doing it.
“It’s like a love-hate relationship. I hate it, but I can’t live without it.
“Moving to Casey has made me realise I actually do love it. I’m actually enjoying going to training for the first time in three years.”
Cole switched to the TigerSharks from Kings three months ago and made her debut for her new club two weekends ago at the Victorian Open Short Course Championships.
But she will leave to train at the Australian Institute of Sport in November after completing her VCE.
A potential gold medal at the 2012 London Paralympics is what drives Cole to continually burn up the laps at the Casey ARC and RACE pools.
She also hopes to defeat ‘unbeatable’ South African Natalie du Toit.
And, for the record, Cole wouldn’t change a thing about her life.
“I’ve grown up with it and it’s just something that’s part of me now,” she said.
“You can’t change it and if I got to grow another leg, I wouldn’t, because I love having one leg.”
