Beijing-bound swimmer

Visiting Cape Girardeau for just the second time since relocating to the U.S. Olympic Training Center seven months ago, 15-year-old Susan Beth Scott had a confession to make.

"Basically, we're all pretty much spoiled," she said. "We have a great facility to train in, a great dorm to live in. The cafeteria has really healthy food, and it tastes pretty good, too."

To the victors go such spoils.

Susan Beth has earned them.

Earlier this month, she set a world record in the 400-meter freestyle at the U.S. Paralympic Swimming Trials, helping her land a spot on the U.S. team for the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. She will be one of the youngest members of the team for the international competition for physically disabled athletes.

"It's incredible," said her father, Mike Scott, on Saturday while preparing to work as an official for a swim meet at Central Municipal Pool. "We were thinking maybe London in '12, but it's just been self-motivation for her. She found a playing field and she said, 'I can compete, and I'm going to start working.'"

Susan Beth was born with a form of spina bifada that resulted in two operations -- at the age of 7 months and again at 4 years -- to remove scar tissue from her spinal cord. Nerves on the lower end of her spine are affected, and she doesn't have full feeling in her left leg.

Susan Beth, who had been swimming competitively since the fourth grade, first heard of the Paralympics in 2004, when the Scotts flipped on the television at a hotel and saw the competition in Athens.

The international Paralympic Games follows each Olympics, using the same venues and facilities. This year's Paralympics will be Sept. 7 through 16 in Beijing, marking the first Olympics/Paralympics in China.

But China seemed a long way off thee years ago this month when Susan Beth competed in her first event -- the Greater Toledo Athletic Club Disability Open. Susan Beth had been swimming competitively since the fourth grade and had a good base from her years with the Gators Swim Team in Cape Girardeau. She came out of her first meet ranked 14th in the world in the 400 freestyle.

She continued her improvement over the last two years while representing the U.S. at international events in South Africa and Brazil.

"She has seen the world and had experiences that you can go a lifetime and never have," Mike Scott said. "And it's because of the international Paralympics."

Because of the opportunities Susan Beth has had, the Scotts want to see more physically disabled people pursue athletics, either through the Gators or other clubs.

"Only about 10 percent of the people that are disabled do physical activities," Susan Beth said. "It would be great if a lot more kids became active."

"Swimming is not the only sport," Mike Scott added. "Obviously, swimming is convenient here because we have the personnel and the facility to have access to that sport."

Susan Beth began her swimming career with the Gators Swim Team, for which her parents -- Mike and Alicia -- now volunteer. She worked under the direction of Gators coach Steve Franklin, who had experience coaching accomplished Paralympic swimmers.

"Steve is a really good trainer and he got me the endurance that I have," said Scott, who as a freshman at Central was a state qualifier in the 500-yard freestyle and excels at the longer distances.

But when the opportunity arose to train at the U.S. Olympic facility in Colorado Springs, Colo., the Scotts jumped.

Susan Beth has maintained her schoolwork online in a remote home-schooling program monitored by her mother, and she keeps in touch with friends via e-mail once or twice a week.

"There were some times when I got a little homesick," Susan Beth said, "but for the most part, I just really love Colorado Springs, so it wasn't a problem.

"Just going out there, where they have a lot of technology and a good coach, Jimi Flowers, has helped a lot. Training at the Olympic Training Center motivates me a lot because it's all focused on Beijing and the Olympics. It's really motivating just to walk by the Olympic rings. I love it."

Susan Beth said she dropped her 100 backstroke time by five seconds and her 200 individual medley time by 10 seconds.

And in the longest Paralympic event, the 400 free, she dropped seven seconds, putting her in position to swim a 4-minute, 40.10-second time April 2 at the U.S. trials at the University of Minnesota. She broke -- by more than seven-tenths of a second -- a world record that had stood since the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta.

"I was excited," Susan Beth said. "Excited and relieved because I'd been trying for that for a long time and I had been about five seconds away. I'd been training really hard and the competition was great."

She also won the 100 backstroke at the trials, was second in both the 100 butterfly and 200 IM, and was third in both the 50 free and 100 free.

"I probably wasn't as focused as I should have been," said Scott, who said the record in her first event that probably sealed her spot on the team may have relaxed her.

She is not certain how many of the events she will swim over the nine days of competition in Beijing.

"I may not win [those other events], but I am close to medaling in some," she said.

Given Scott's rapid improvement, she could be closer to medaling by September.

She will compete next month in Manchester, England, at the World Cup, and will compete in the summer in British Columbia, Canada.

After that, the U.S. team will head to Japan to train for a week before the Paralympics.

"We haven't talked that much about it," Susan Beth said. "We'll have a team camp in June to go over things."

But her experience in international events and her time as an admittedly spoiled athlete will have her ready on one front.

"I'll probably bring some food," she said. "Typically, village food isn't that great. That's just been my experience."