Heather goes for Paralympic gold

3:30pm Tuesday 2nd September 2008

WORLD-record holder Heather Frederiksen will go for gold in Beijing – just four years after she was told she would never swim again.

The freestyle and backstroke star flew out to the advanced training camp in Macau with the British team on Saturday to prepare for her first Paralympic Games which begin at the weekend.

And after seeing her Olympic dream come true, she cannot wait to follow her hero Michael Phelps into the magnificent Water Cube where he won his eight gold medals.

The 24-year-old, of Clifton Street, Leigh, was an up-and-coming able-bodied star before an accident ended her career.

She was out of the water for a year, and, disabled by a leg and arm injury, had to learn to swim all over again.

With an S8 disability classification, the world ranked number one will compete in her top event the 100m backstroke, plus the 200m individual medley and the 50m, 100m and 400m freestyle events in which she is world number two.

Frederiksen learned to swim at the age of five at Howe Bridge and started swimming competitively at the age of nine.

She was a member of Howe Bridge’s Aces before moving on to Atherton, then Tyldesley and then the City of Salford where she trains under the guidance of coach, John Stout.

As an able-bodied swimmer she rose to world level, competing in the world championships in Barcelona in 2003.

She was also a top open water competitor whose favourite distance was 25,000k – a five-hour swim.

Now a full time, lottery-funded sportswoman, Frederiksen trains for 18 hours a week – and has to get up at 4.30am to make early morning sessions.

She said: “I just can’t wait to get to Beijing and start competing.

“It is a chance of a lifetime, one that not very many are given and I will do my best to bring home a medal or two.”

She will be watched in the pool by proud mum and dad, Lynne and John, who will fly out to Beijing shortly.

Lynne, who gave up her job to ferry her daughter to early morning sessions, said: “We are bursting with pride, but Heather deserves everything she has achieved.

“Four years ago we didn’t even think she would swim again, but she has come a long way since then.”

Frederiksen, who was the subject of BBC1’s The One Show last night, will start her medal campaign on day two of the Games.

Paralympics Factfile

• This year’s Games will see 4,000 athletes from 150 countries competing in Beijing.

• Athletes with cerebral palsy competed in the Games for the first time in 1980.

• Britain is the birthplace of the Paralympic Games, they have their roots at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital at Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.

• The first official Games took place in Rome in 1960 and 400 people from 23 countries competed.

• Boccia, which was introduced to Britain in 1980 as a game for people with severe cerebral palsy is one of the 19 Paralympic sports. Similar to bowls or French petanque the aim of the game is to propel a set of coloured balls and position them closer to a white ‘marker’ ball than those of your opponent. The balls can be propelled in any way making the game suitable for people with or without disabilities but it must be done from a seated position.

• Britain has traditionally been one of the most successful nations at the Games
• After the Games Sydney in 2000 the squad brought home 41 golds, 43 silvers and 47 bronzes
• In 2004 the team returned from Athens with 35 golds, 30 silvers and 29 bronze medals.