The British Paralympic Association has today announced the sixteen British Swimmers confirmed for London 2012. One of the confirmed sixteen is 24 year old Rhiannon Henry from Bridgend; this will be her third games having previously competed in the Athens and Beijing as part of Team GB. Henry said of her selection, ‘I am in complete shock even though I made the qualifying time, you never know until you see it officially. I am very excited to be in London and competing in front of a home crowd. This is my 3rd games and it’s a chance for all my family to be there.’
Nyree Kindred and Liz Johnson are two of the twenty six nominations from British Swimming that have been passed by the BPA’s Qualification and Selection Panel, their selection will be confirmed by the BPA once the IPC slot allocation has been formally made in early June.
Kindred, originally from Porth, has competed at three Paralympic Games, racking up an impressive nine medals. The mum of one, competed over the weekend in the British International Disability Championships had a qualifying time of 1.28.31 in the 100 metre backstroke. Liz Johnson, who unfortunately didn’t make qualifications in the Women’s MC 100m with a time of 1.42.64, is sure to be delighted with her nomination.
Anthony Hughes, National Performance Manager, We would like to send our congratulations to Rhiannon Henry on her selection and our best wishes to both Liz Johnson and Nyree Kindred on their nomination for the final selections in June. We are sure they will go on to do themselves and Wales proud.’
Dave Roberts, from Pontyrpridd has been unsuccessful in his attempt to compete in his fourth Paralympic Games and to add to his very respectable 16 medals to date, 11 of which are gold. Anthony Hughes, said of Roberts, ‘Dave Roberts has been a longstanding servant to both Disability Sport in Wales and British Swimming. His achievements and medal accomplishment without doubt speak for themselves. Unfortunately all competitors have that one devastating moment and David has articulated his feelings well.
On behalf of Disability Sport Wales all I would like to add is that we have watched David develop from Junior Welsh Swimmer to leading the world in his event class and we are extremely proud of what he has achieved in his career to date. We share David’s disappointment and wish him a full and speedy recovery.
