Paralympic swimmer Tucker Dupree, who won six Gold Medals at the Can-Am National Championships in San Antonio last month, has been named to the United States team that will compete in the 2010 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming World Championships this August in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

The Netherlands meet Aug. 15-21 will be Dupree’s sixth international meet as a U.S. Paralympic Swimmer.

The Can-Am National Championships in San Antonio March 25-27 served as the world championships qualification meet. Twenty-five of the athletes (including Dupree) that will compete at the world championships also represented the U.S. at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.

As a result of Dupree’s strong performance in San Antonio, he has the following Long Course World Rankings:

▪ Second in the 100 Meter Backstroke

▪ Second in the 400 Meter Freestyle

▪ Third in the 50 Meter Freestyle

▪ Third in the 100 Meter Freestyle

▪ Third in the 100 Meter Butterfly

▪ Sixth in the 200 Meter Individual Medley

Dupree’s strong performance in San Antonio comes just months after he won a Gold Medal, two Silver Medals and two Bronze Medals at the Short Course World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Dec. 2-5.

He’s on track to win Gold at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

“I was very happy with my performance in Texas,” Dupree said. “My goal was not only to make the world championship team but to improve my world ranking in the long course. I achieved these goals.”

In Summer 2008, Dupree represented the United States at the 2008 Paralympics Games in Beijing. He spent the 2008-09 school year as a varsity swimmer at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, N.C., near Shelby.

At age 17, while Dupree was a standout high school swimmer in Garner, N.C., he began to lose his vision and was diagnosed with a rare disease called Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy. In a short period of time, he lost 60-80 percent of his central vision in both eyes.

Since that time, he has become a stronger swimmer and has also set a new life ambition: personal inspirational speaking.

The Paralympics are Olympic style games for 4,000 elite athletes representing 136 countries in 13 different disability groups, emphasizing their athletic achievements rather than their disabilities.

Dupree qualified to represent the United States at the 2008 Paralympics in Minneapolis last April at the Paralympics swimming trials where he won five Gold Medals.

Dupree is a 2007 honors graduate of Garner Magnet High School.

For more information, or to inquire about Tucker Dupree as an inspirational speaker, please contact www.tuckerdupree.com or 919-210-4068, or Ken Bland at ken.bland@sas.com.

To join Tucker Dupree’s Fan Page, visit www.facebook.com/l/3f9c0;www. tuckerdupree.com.