Kathleen Bates is an American open water swimmer and disability sports program manager who has lived in Doha, Qatar since 2008. She has founded two aquatics programs for swimmers with disabilities.
Although Bates has swum in events in St. Croix, Elk Lake, Malta, Croatia, Greece, Egypt, British Virgin Islands, Crete, and Galapagos Islands, her real passion is making a difference among people who have disabilities.
- She won the Vodafone 2012 World of Difference Award.
- She founded Freestyle Aquatics, a program dedicated to providing swimming, snorkelling and scuba diving to the disabled in . Qatar.
- She taught and certified the first Qatari disabled diver, Ghanem Al Muftah, who headlined the opening ceremony of the 2022 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony alongside Morgan Freeman [see below].
- She won first place in Texas A&M 2017 engineering award for 3D printing competition for custom-designed snorkel for individuals with cerebral palsy.
- In 2018, she began the Ability Friendly program, creating this first-of-its-kind sports programming that provides sports programs, events, and activities to people ages 4 and above with a disability.
- In 2019, she was selected by Festival Magazine among the Top 30 most influential people to impact their community in Qatar for her continued commitment to pioneering and providing sports programming for the differently abled community.
- In 2019, she was a finalist in the UK Disability Business Forum’s People’s Choice Award.
- In 2024, she and SwimTrek will offer a coaching education program that provides training to swimming coaches and guides interested in working with swimmers with disabilities.
- She is the only certified adaptive scuba instructor in Qatar.
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