With the opening ceremony at the Maracana in Rio only hours away, Ellie Simmonds has said this Paralympics will be a great Games.
After winning gold medals in Beijing and London, the 21 year old former Loughborough College student will swim in five events in Brazil and plans to enjoy her third Paralympics.
“I’m just focusing on what I need to do, it will be a great Games no matter what. We’re going to go out there and have fun. We’re just going to go out there and swim as fast as we can.
“I really hope the goodwill we saw at the Olympics continues. It was great watching Team GB and that will really inspire us in the next couple of weeks.”
The youngest member of the British team in China in 2008, Ellie won the 100m freestyle S6 before breaking her own world record by more than seven seconds for a second title in the 400m freestyle S6. She then won five European golds in 2009, four World Championship titles in 2010 and added another two European golds (both in world records) in 2011.
At London 2012 Ellie held her nerve under the pressure of public expectation and a fierce rivalry with American Victoria Arlen to secure 400m freestyle S6 and 200m individual medley SM6 gold medals as well as 100m freestyle S6 silver and 50m freestyle S6 bronze.
“What London did to showcase Paralympic sport was incredible,” added Ellie, who won two gold medals there. “It was how the public embraced the Paralympics.
“They got tickets for everything, sports that people would not normally go and watch. And when we had that parade in London, millions of people turned out. I really hope that is what happens when we come back from Rio and that people are inspired by us.
“I’m still getting congratulated on the streets of London and that was four years ago. It could last a lifetime. I like it that I’m in people’s minds. It’s a real honour that the country has embraced me.”
Since London 2012 Ellie has continued her medal-winning form, picking up three gold medals at both the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal and at her third IPC Swimming European Championships in Eindhoven in 2014. At the latter event she lowered her 200m individual medley SM6 world record and claimed her first international 100m breaststroke SB6 title.
Ellie continued her impressive performances into 2015 with four medals at the IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow, one of which was gold in the 200m individual medley SM6. A silver and two bronze medals were also Simmonds' for the taking.
The end of 2015 saw a world record swim for Ellie at the National Championships held in Manchester in the 200m individual medley SM6.