Ealing swimmer, Alice Tai MBE, won her first Paralympic individual gold medal over the weekend in record Paralympic time.

Tai who trains out of Ealing Swimming Club (ESC), one of the largest in the UK, brought home gold for Great Britain in the S8 100m backstroke in a Paralympic record time of one minute 9.06 seconds on Saturday, 31 August.

The gold medal marks her second at the Games, as Tai picked up gold in the 4x100m medley 34pts in the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

Despite becoming a champion in Brazil, Tai told BBC Sport that her mental health "was the worst it's ever been" during the Rio Games and that she did not "want to be alive," but that now she is "so proud" of herself after becoming a champion in Paris.

The 25-year-old Poole native was born with bilateral talipes or club feet and in 2022 she had surgery to amputate her right leg below the knee because of the pain.

Reacting to her win, Tai could not "believe it" and said the moment was particularly special as it would be her mentor Dave Heathcock's last season before retiring from coaching and ESC.

"I told my coach who said he's going to retire, 'no I am going to go faster next season and you are not allowed to retire because you are going to get me there,'" the Paralympic champion told Channel 4.

The Paris Paralympics are not over for Tai who competes in three more events this week: 400m freestyle on Wednesday, 4 September, the 50m freestyle on Thursday, 5 September and the 100m butterfly on Saturday, 7 September.

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To watch the Ealing swimmer compete, visit Channel 4 who are broadcasting the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

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