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Donovan Tildesley, Paralympic swimmer, corporate consultant (born 24 July 1984 in Vancouver, BC). Donovan Tildesley is a five-time Paralympic Games medallist and a seven-time medallist at the International Paralympic Committee Swimming World Championships. He competed in the S11 classification for athletes with a visual impairment and set three world records in that category. At the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, Tildesley was Canada’s flag bearer at the Opening Ceremonies. He has since become a corporate accessibility consultant. He was inducted into the BC Swim Hall of Fame in 2021.
Nature of Disability
Donovan Tildesley was born with Leber Congenital Amaurosis, a disease where one’s retinas do not develop. According to the Cleveland Clinic, it affects one out of every 50,000 babies born in the United States. Children who suffer from Leber Congenital Amaurosis are often bothered by light, frequently rub their eyes and suffer from nystagmus (shaking of the eyes).
Family
Donovan Tildesley is the oldest of three children of Hugh and Deborah Tildesley. He has a younger brother, Hamish, and a younger sister, Catherine. Hugh, an endocrinologist at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, would eventually be Donovan’s swimming coach.
Looking back at his childhood, Donovan was grateful his parents encouraged him to participate in activities. He was most active in swimming and skiing. He first started swimming at six months and was on his first swim team at age nine. By the time Donovan was 12, he was made aware of the Paralympic Games at a swim meet in Kamloops, BC.
Tildesley also started skiing by the time he was three years old. He frequently took trips with his family to Whistler. The first time Donovan was on skis, he went backward because he felt it was easier.
First Paralympic Games
Donovan Tildesley competed in his first Paralympic Games in swimming at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney at age 16. He won the bronze medal in the men’s 200 m individual medley with a classification of SM11.
Dominant IPC World Championships
Donovan Tildesley’s most successful international meet was the 2002 IPC Swimming World Championships in Mar del Plata, Argentina. He won the gold medal in the men’s 50 m freestyle, 100 m freestyle, 200 m individual medley, 100 m backstroke and 400 m freestyle. He also won silver in the men’s 100 m butterfly.
More International Success
Tildesley won three medals at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens: silver in the men’s 200 m individual medley and men’s 400 m freestyle and bronze in the men’s 100 m freestyle. Then, at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, Tildesley won bronze in the men’s 400 m freestyle. That was followed by a silver medal in the men’s 200 m individual medley at the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
World Record Holder
Tildesley is the world record holder in the men’s 1500 m freestyle. He posted a time of 19:02.11 at the Can-Am Open in Victoria, BC, on 13 July 2008. He previously held the world records in the men’s 200 m butterfly and 800 m freestyle in the S11 classification.
Other Activities
Donovan Tildesley earned a degree in English at the University of British Columbia in 2008. He has since been employed by the Buntain Insurance Group of Companies and by Virgin Voyages as an accessibility consultant. Tildesley was inducted into the BC Swim Hall of Fame in 2021.
(See also Premiere Para-Athletes.)
