After making a splash in the Canadian paralympic swimming world, Jonathan Dieleman is hanging up his wetsuit.
The local paralympic swimmer made the announcement Monday morning on social media.
“It has been a long and hard decision to come to but ultimately came down to what was best for my mental health and financial situation,” said Dieleman in the post.
“I can honestly say that I have felt much better over the last couple months of not worrying about how my performance was going to be this spring. I want to say thank you to everyone that has supported me over the last five years of being on the national team.”
Dieleman recently set a number of records for his class in 2018, including a record in the 100-metre breaststroke and the 200-metre breaststroke.
READ MORE: Dieleman smashes national swim record
Previously he had hopes of reaching the podium at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
In the post Dieleman said the experience of getting to compete on the international stage was an experience he will never forget.
“I never would have thought in my life that I would have made it to the Paralympic games and Rio 2016 was one of the coolest experiences I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
For the immediate future, Dieleman said he is looking forward to spending time at home and travelling with his girlfriend.
He ended the post by thanking Swimming Canada and Team Canada.
Speaking to The Interior News, Dieleman’s coach Tom Best noted despite getting into swimming at a relatively older age compared to others competing on the international stage that the Bulkley Valley paralympian has seen a great amount of success in his competitive career.
Dieleman won a silver medal at the 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto — a Canadian record. He would go on to beat that very same record twice more in 2016. In that same year he would finish fifth in the 50-metre breaststroke at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
“If he was ten years younger, then that’s a little different,” said Best.
trevor.hewitt@interior-news.com
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