Deaf swimmer wins gold in Portugal

Swimmer Peggy Liang of Vancouver won six medals, three of them gold, at the World Deaf Swimming Championships last week in Coimbra, Portugal.

A recent Mountain View High School graduate, Liang won individual gold in the women’s 100-meter freestyle with a time of 59.57 seconds, and in the 50-meter butterfly with a time of 29.77 seconds.

Liang won a third gold medal as a member of the Team USA 800 freestyle relay. The time was 8:49.55, a World Deaf Swimming Championships record. This was the third time the meet has been held.

Liang’s silver medal was in the 50-meter freestyle (27.44 seconds). That race was won by 26-year-old Aksana Petrushenka of Belarus in a meet-record time of 26.93. Liang won bronze medals in the 100 butterfly (1:06.45), and as a member of the and 400 medley relay (4:40.03).

A swimmer for the Columbia River Swim Team in Vancouver, Liang and will be a freshman at the University of Hawai’i.