After Injuries, The ‘Boca Raton Breaststroke’ Got Anastasia Pagonis Back Atop Her Game

For many swimmers hoping to compete at this summer’s Paralympic Games Paris 2024, the Para Swimming World Series stop in Indianapolis in April was one last chance to compete before the all-important U.S. Olympic Team Trials in late June.

For Anastasia Pagonis, it was her first.

At least her first in a very long time.

The defending Paralympic champion in the 400-meter freestyle S11 didn’t compete for almost two years because of a shoulder injury, so her return to the starting blocks was a welcome — if somewhat nerve wracking — event.

“I only had about two and a half months where I was able to train at full capacity, so I was kind of terrified going into it,” the Long Island native said. “But at least I’ve had a chance to be able to compete somewhere other than trials, because I was kind of nervous about that. So it was nice to be able to do that and see all my teammates. It was a good way to do it, back on home turf.”

Pagonis began losing her eyesight at the age of 11. Diagnosed with a genetic condition and autoimmune retinopathy, which means her immune system attacks her retinas, her vision continued to deteriorate and by 14 was almost completely gone.

Three years later, she made her first Paralympic team, and in her first major international final she won an emphatic gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle S11. Pagonis won the race by more than 10 seconds and broke her own world record in both the prelims in the final, ending with a time of 4 minutes, 54.59 seconds.

The gold was the first by a U.S. athlete in Tokyo, and she also left with a bronze medal in the 200-meter individual medley SM11. Pagonis followed that up in 2022 by winning three world titles — in the 100-meter and 400-meter freestyles S11 (the classification for swimmers with the greatest visual impairment) and the 200-meter IM SM11. Yet she was battling shoulder pain throughout both competitions.

“I was just brainwashing myself into thinking it was normal when I knew it wasn’t,” she said.

An MRI revealed a tear, which doctors tried to let heal through physical therapy. When that didn’t work, surgery became the only option. Pagonis ended up needing five anchors in the shoulder after the surgeon found a greater amount of damage than initially expected.

She didn’t get the OK to get back in the pool until last December.

“And even then I couldn’t really do any overheard yet,” she said. “I called it doing the Boca Raton breaststroke, like the little old ladies. I started with that, and a lot of kicking, which I think will actually really help me in the Games.”

Pagonis has perhaps the biggest social media platform of any U.S. Paralympian, with just shy of 400,000 Instagram followers and an astounding 2.6 million followers on TikTok. Most of the content she posts is about life as a blind woman, including how she does her makeup and otherwise navigates the world.

She also shares insight into how she works with her guide dog, Radar, and how she swims. One recent post explained that she swims with blackout goggles, and that her coach holds her ankle then releases to let her know when she can leave the block during a relay. She interacts with her followers (one didn’t understand why the coach had to hold her ankle when she can hear, and Pagonis explained that there’s no sound cue in relays because everyone’s coming in at a different time) to help them understand.

Now 20 years old, Pagonis is determined to continue changing attitudes surrounding disability.

“As someone with a disability, it’s crazy how much you have to fight for, which is so sad to say,” she said. “Everything is a battle, because the world isn’t set up for us. So I’m trying to change that. I want disabled athletes to be treated the same way as able-bodied athletes; that’s something I really want to fight for. We are just as cool, if not cooler. We do all the same things and we have a disability. I mean, come on. That’s pretty cool.”

With her second Paralympic Games rapidly approaching, Pagonis is focused on mental health and digging into sports psychology as much as possible. For her, that means staying positive, embracing the difficult days and going to sleep knowing tomorrow is a chance to start over.

“I could train as hard as I possibly can, and if my mental game isn’t in the right space it’ll all be thrown,” she said. “I need to be 100 percent mentally or it’s just not going to work out for me.”

Although she’s had to drop the 200 IM from her event list because the shoulder’s just not ready for butterfly or backstroke, she’s looking forward to seeing what she can do in more freestyle events.

“Definitely knowing what to expect and what comes with the Games is a lot nicer,” she said of the possibility of returning for a second Paralympics. “All Games are different, but just having the overall layout is nice. I’m just super excited to race again against the best athletes in the world. It’s so fun. I truly do love competing so much, so I get really excited for that.”

Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to USParaSwimming.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.