The paralympic swimming champ that is scared of the sea

 
Inspiration: success at the Beijing Paralympics has opened up a range of opportunities for Ellie
Henry Swarbrick10 April 2012

She was a double Paralympic champion in the pool at the age of 13, so you could be forgiven for thinking that Ellie Simmonds's natural habitat is the water, but she has a secret.

"I don't swim in the sea," Ellie confessed.

"We went on a camp in an island in Spain and we all swam over to it but I couldn't put my head under. I had to swim like a granny because I was scared that there were things in there.

"When you are in the pool you know you are safe but in the sea there can be sharks and I was scared. I had to hold onto one of the swimmers."

Born with achondroplasia - a type of autosomal dominant genetic disorder that is a common cause of dwarfism - Ellie swims in the S6 disability
classification, with swimmers with physical disabilities being ranked from the most severe S1 to S10.

She was Britain's youngest athlete at the Beijing games in 2008 and returned from China a double Paralympic champion, to find that her hard-fought victory in the 100m freestyle final and her tearful post-race interview had won the hearts of a nation.

Nearly three years later - and after winning BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year and becoming the youngest person to be honoured with an MBE - Ellie is arguably Britain's most recognisable Paralympic athlete.

That is no mean feat considering the British team's haul of 42 golds left them second only to host nation China in the medal table.

But despite her unique achievements she is in many ways like any 16-year-old girl. She explains her obsession with shopping before giggling hysterically when I mention Justin Bieber.

"I don't know what it is about him, he just sends me crazy!" she says.

But when I move the conversation from the pop sensation and onto London 2012 a steely determination enters her eyes, which goes some way to explaining her success.

And despite achieving more in her brief career that most could hope to after a lifetime of toil, Ellie believes her two biggest accomplishments are to come.

"Going into Beijing, I was unknown really," she said.

"But now, people know who I am and they will be chasing me and wanting to steal that position off me. So winning in London would be an even bigger deal.

"I also hope what I achieve can show disabled people that they can achieve things in sport. Maybe not being a Paralympian but just get into sport.

"Sport is so important; it helps you with your daily life and your outlook. It helps you with confidence, but if you don't enjoy it you won't get anything out of it. My mum always said there was no point me swimming if I didn't enjoy it.

"It's great that people will be able to see us and understand disabled sport but I think we have a lot of pressure on ourselves this time. Going into Beijing there wasn't that much publicity on us. People expect success now."

But before attempting to retain her 100m and 400m events, as well capture a medal in the 100m backstroke, Ellie will have to tackle something a little more usual for her age: her GCSEs.

And despite having to fit her studies round her 18 hours of training a week - she will take the exams in a training camp in Spain - she is in little doubt about their importance as she is already looking to her career after swimming.

"There are a lot of things I'd like to be, it's a shame I can't be them all at once," she said.

"I'd like to be a forensic scientist or work in a patisserie, it keeps changing though; I wanted to be photographer before.

"Because of that I really want to do well at my GCSEs but I can't wait to get these weeks done and then I can focus on my swimming."

And she will have plenty to focus on with next month's Paralympic World Cup in Manchester followed by June's European Championships in Berlin, for which she qualified last week.

It's the kind of nomadic lifestyle Ellie has been forced to adapt to since she was inspired into professional swimming by watching Nyree Lewis triumph in the S6 100m backstroke in Athens.

When she is not travelling round the globe she spends the weekend with her dad and sister in Birmingham before catching the train back to
Swansea on Sunday where she lives with her mum and conducts her training at the city's high-performance swimming centre.

It is a gruelling and demanding existence but Walsall-born Ellie has all the motivation she needs for those early starts.

"Some mornings when you wake up at half five you think, 'why am I a swimmer? Why do I have to get up so early in the morning, can't I have a lie in?'" she said.

"But then you think, 'I have had so many great experiences out of it and met so many celebrities, going to countries that I would never have had the chance to visit, like Brazil [for the World Short Course Championships] or China'.

"You enjoy what you do - and the feeling of getting the gold medal in Beijing that always sticks inside you - and you think 'that was an amazing experience and this is why I do all the training'.

"Before Beijing I motivated myself by wanting to go to the games, as I was only 13 there was a big chance I couldn't go because I was quite young.
"Swimming there, with all the Chinese people shouting at you, gave you a big buzz even though they weren't shouting for you. So for London, having your home shouting for you will give you a big buzz. We really hope to do the country proud."

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