Paralympic swimmer aims for first gold medal

Becky Redfern, from Droitwich, has been chosen for the British team that will compete in Paris this summer

A swimmer is aiming for her first gold medal after being selected for her third Paralympic Games.

Becky Redfern, from Droitwich in Worcestershire, has been chosen for the British team that will compete in Paris this summer.

Redfern won silver medals at both of her previous Paralympic Games, in Tokyo and Rio.

“I’ve silver-medalled it [for] the first two, so a little bit more pressure to come home with a gold,” she said of this year’s contest.

Redfern said she started swimming as a child because her brothers loved the sport.

Paralympics GB announced its 26-person swimming team on Monday, ahead of the games that will run from 28 August until 8 September.

Redfern, who is visually impaired, said she planned to use the knowledge and experience she had gained during her first two Paralympics to go for gold this time.

“When you’re a kid and you do a sport, it’s always the Olympics and the Paralympics – that’s the dream, the goal,” she told BBC Radio Hereford & Worcester.

“I think back to when I was young and go: ‘Wow, little me would be so proud of myself, for just making [it into] the Games.’ ”

'The roar of the crowd'

Redfern started swimming as a child because her brothers loved the sport and, when she was 15, she found out that her visual impairment would put her into the para sports category.

She then moved to Worcester Swimming Club and started working with Mark Stowe, one of their coaches.

Redfern said she owed “a massive thank you to everyone” who had coached her, swam with her, and cheered her on at the club.

Redfern said she was particularly excited about Paris because her most recent Paralympics, in Tokyo in 2021, was still subject to Covid restrictions.

This summer her four-year-old son Patrick and her family are due to be there to cheer her on.

“You hear the roar of the crowd in the last 10 metres and it really spurs you on, to find something really deep down that you didn’t know you had,” she said.