Alejandra Aybar Diaz
Lourdes Alejandra Aybar Diaz is a Paralympic athlete who competes in swimming events.
Alejandra is a native of Azua, Dominican Republic, and was 27 years old when she learned to swim after a knee injury. Now 35, she is competing in her second Paralympic Games at the 2024 Paris games.
In Tokyo (2020), she became the first swimmer representing her native Dominican Republic to compete in the Paralympics and was one of her country’s flag bearers at the opening ceremonies. In Tokyo, she swam in the 50-meter freestyle S8, 100-meter breaststroke SB6 and 100-meter butterfly S8 (S8 and SB6 are divisions for those with physical impairments).
Abyar, who is 4 foot 3 inches tall (1.3 m), has brittle bone disease, osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as crystal bone disease. In 2014 her doctor advised her to take up the sport after she damaged her right knee. She was 26 and had never learnt to swim.
- A visit to a pool in the capital Santo Domingo, where she moved for college, changed her life. “It was incredible. I didn’t know how to swim, but I enjoyed the feeling of the water and I could move my legs.
- “I asked myself, how have I lived this long without knowing this heaven? I felt alive in the water.”
- She was initially denied swimming lessons for fear her disability would delay the class, but Aybar fought the discrimination and won. A coach later invited her to join the Delfines del Naco Masters team where she trained alongside able-bodied swimmers.
- Her progression was swift. In 2016 she competed in her first national competition and a year later, at 28, she became the first Para swimmer from the Dominican Republic to compete in a World Championships final.[1]
- She surprised many when she chose to study industrial engineering. She ignored the negative comments and was awarded outstanding graduate by the Technology Institute of Santo Domingo, and later got a job as a quality engineer for a medical devices company.
- Later she returned to the college to give a speech to 500 graduates via YouTube. She was also invited to give a TEDx talk and was selected for the Future Leaders Programme for Latin America, Portugal and Spain.[2]
