The 57-year-old has enjoyed a stellar career to date after he won double gold at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, which followed victory in the 50 metres backstroke in his home Paralympic Games in Atlanta four years earlier.

Lovejoy then continued his dominance by taking home another gold medal at Athens 2004.

He will be joined in the American squad by 12-year-old debutant Nelya Schasfoort, as well as a host of others who will be making their first appearance at an international competition, including McClain Hermes, Casandra Shaffer and Zachary Shattuck.

The team features 13 women and seven men, incorporating some of those who performed well at the recent Can Am Para-swimming Championships in Toronto.

Kayla Wheeler, who set a Pan American record in the S2 100m freestyle race, has been selected, as has Haley Beranbaum, who broke her own national record at the event in Canada.

Haley Beranbaum has also been selected for the American swimming team for the Parapan American Games following a string of impressive results ©Getty Images



"This is a very strong team we're sending to the Parapan Am Games," U.S Paralympics swimming high performance director Queenie Nichols said.

"We have several young swimmers we're excited to see start to emerge on the international scene.

"This summer will be a great opportunity for them to learn from our seasoned swimmers and experience their first international meet."

The swimming competition at the 2015 Parapan American Games will take place at both the CBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Aquatics Centre and the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.

More than 1,600 athletes from 28 countries will compete at the fifth edition of the Games.

The US swimming team will be hoping to build on their performance at the 2011 Parapan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, where they claimed a haul of 24 medals, eight of which were gold.

That total saw them finish in third place in the swimming medal standings behind the host nation and Brazil, who topped the leaderboard with 85 medals, including 33 gold.

The full team can be viewed here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
April 2015: Long leads powerful US squad for IPC Swimming World Championships
March 2015: Canadian swimming team announced for Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games