Graham Edmunds

Last updated

Graham Edmunds
Personal information
Full nameGraham Edmunds
Nationality British
Born (1974-09-22) 22 September 1974 (age 48)
Reading
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes50 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle 34 point Freestyle Relay
ClubSwansea
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain
Paralympic Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2004 Athens 4×100 m freestyle – 34 pts
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2008 Beijing 4×100 m freestyle – 34 pts
IPC World Championships
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2010 Eindhoven 4×100 m freestyle 34 pts
IPC European Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2009 Reykjavik 4x100m freestyle relay 34pts
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2009 Reykjavik 50 m freestyle – S10

Graham Edmunds (born 22 September 1974) is a British swimmer who has competed in three Paralympic Games, winning two gold medals in world record times. [1] [2] He was a member of the Reading Swimming Club where he was also a part-time lifeguard and coached the Cygnets, Reading's club for swimmers with learning difficulties. [3]

Contents

Accident

In October 2000, Edmunds was knocked off his motorcycle whilst riding to work on the A4. His injuries were so severe that doctors considered amputating both of his legs and believed that he would never walk again. [3] He spent three months with his legs in casts before beginning swimming again as part of his physiotherapy routine. Because he had limited movement in his ankle joints, he qualified as a disabled swimmer in the S10 category. When Edmunds met the British Paralympic coach Billy Pye he decided to begin training for the 2004 Summer Paralympics, but had to move to Swansea to make use of the High-Performance Training Centre as Reading had no Olympic-size swimming pool. [3] [4]

Paralympics

Edmunds made his first appearance at the Paralympics in 2004. He competed in two individual S10 classification freestyle events as well as the 4×100 m freestyle 34 pts relay team. In the individual 100 m he was knocked out in the heats but he made the final of the 50 m finishing in sixth. [5] [6] The relay team, which also featured David Roberts, Robert Welbourn and Matt Walker, set a new world record time of 3  59.62  seconds to win the gold medal ahead of Australia on the day of Edmunds 30th birthday. [7] [8]

In 2008 Edmunds won a silver medal and set a new British record in the S10 50 m freestyle at the British Swimming Championships. [9] He made his second Paralympic appearance for Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, held in Beijing, China. Edmunds raced in the same three events as in 2004 as well as the 4×100 m medley 34 pts relay team. he made the finals of both his individual events but failed to win a medal, finishing seventh in the 100 m and eighth in the 50 m. In the medley the Great Britain team made the final but finished fifth, 17 seconds behind the new world record time set by gold medallists Australia. [10] The freestyle relay quartet of Edmunds, Roberts, Walker and Welbourn successfully defended the title they had won in Athens setting a new world record of 3 minutes 51.43 seconds en route to winning gold. [1]

At the 2009 IPC Swimming European Championships in Reykjavík, Edmunds won an individual bronze medal in the men's S10 50 m freestyle and a gold medal in the 34 point 4x100 m freestyle competing with Walker, Welbourn and Jonathan Fox. [11] [12]

In 2010 Edmunds was appointed to UK Anti-Doping's newly formed Athlete's Committee along with fellow Paralympian Helene Raynsford. [13] [14]

In 2013 he was reappointed to the Athletes Committee of UK Anti-Doping for a further three years.

In May 2012 it was announced that Edmunds had been selected as part of the ParalympicGB to compete at London 2012. http://www.swimming.org/britishswimming/news/disability-swimming/paralympicsgb-nominees-confirmed-for-london-2012/13764/

Post Swimming

Following on from the London 2012 Paralmpic Games, Edmunds announced that he was retiring from competitive swimming.

In early 2013 Edmunds was appointed chairman of The Swimming Competitors Association, and therefore also appointed to the executive board of British Swimming as the Athletes Representative.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Austin</span> Australian Paralympic swimmer

Benjamin James Austin, OAM is an Australian Elite Athlete with a Disability (EAD) swimmer. His classification is S8.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Cowdrey</span> Australian swimmer and politician

Matthew John Cowdrey is an Australian politician and Paralympic swimmer. He presently holds numerous world records. He has a congenital amputation of his left arm; it stops just below the elbow. Cowdrey competed at the 2004 Paralympic Games, 2006 Commonwealth Games, 2008 Paralympic Games, 2010 Commonwealth Games, and the 2012 Paralympic Games. After the 2012 London Games, he is the most successful Australian Paralympian, having won thirteen Paralympic gold medals and twenty three Paralympic medals in total. On 10 February 2015, Cowdrey announced his retirement from swimming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Long</span> Russian-American Paralympic swimmer

Jessica Tatiana Long is a Russian-American Paralympic swimmer from Baltimore, Maryland, who competes in the S8, SB7 and SM8 category events. She has held many world records and competed at five Paralympic Games, winning 29 medals. She has also won over 50 world championship medals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Roberts (swimmer)</span> Welsh swimmer

David Evan Roberts CBE, is a Welsh swimmer. An eleven-time Paralympic gold medallist, he is one of Great Britain's most successful Paralympians ever.

Robert Welbourn is a British Paralympian swimmer. He was born in Chesterfield. He began his swimming career at Deeping Swimming Club in Deeping St. James.

Nyree Elise Kindred MBE is a Welsh swimmer who has competed in the Paralympic Games on four occasions winning ten medals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Walker (swimmer)</span> British Paralympic swimmer

Matthew "Matt" Benedict Walker MBE is a British swimmer who has participated in four Paralympic Games, winning eleven medals. He competes in the S7, SM7 (medley) and SB7 (breaststroke) classifications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellie Cole</span> Australian Paralympic swimmer

Ellie Victoria Cole, is an Australian retired Paralympic swimmer and wheelchair basketball player. After having her leg amputated due to cancer, she trained in swimming as part of her rehabilitation program and progressed more rapidly than instructors had predicted. She began competitive swimming in 2003 and first competed internationally at the 2006 IPC Swimming World Championships, where she won a silver medal. Since then, she has won medals in the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, the Commonwealth Games, the Paralympic Games, the IPC Swimming World Championships, and various national championships. Following the 2012 London Paralympics, where she won four gold and two bronze medals, Cole underwent two shoulder reconstructions and made a successful return to swimming at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships, winning five medals, including three golds. She subsequently represented Australia at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. In claiming her seventeenth Paralympic medal in Tokyo, Cole became Australia's most decorated female Paralympian with six gold, five silver and six bronze medals from four Paralympic Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Australia competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Games in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012. The London Games were the biggest Games with 164 nations participating, 19 more than in the 2008 Beijing Paralympic. Australia has participated at every Summer Paralympic Games and hosted the 2000 Sydney Games. As such, the 2000 Sydney Games, regarded as one of the more successful Games, became a point-of-reference and an inspiration in the development of the 2012 London Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Levy</span> Australian Paralympic swimmer

Matthew John Levy, is a retired Australian Paralympic swimmer. At five Paralympic Games from 2004 to 2020, he has won three gold, one silver and six bronze medals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blake Cochrane</span> Australian Paralympic swimmer

Blake Cochrane, is a retired Australian Paralympic swimmer. He won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, two gold medals at the 2012 London Paralympics, a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, and a silver and one bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cameron de Burgh</span> Australian Paralympic swimmer

Cameron de Burgh is an Australian Paralympic swimmer, who has won four medals at two Paralympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Pendleton</span> Australian Paralympic swimmer

Rick Pendleton, OAM is an Australian Paralympic swimmer from Sydney. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, his fourth Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Anderson (swimmer)</span> Australian Paralympic swimmer

Michael Anderson, is an Australian Paralympic swimmer who has won gold, silver and bronze medals at the three Paralympics from 2008 to 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maddison Elliott</span> Australian Paralympic swimmer

Maddison Gae Elliott, is an Australian swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, she became the youngest Australian Paralympic medallist by winning bronze medals in the women's 400 m and 100 m freestyle S8 events. She then became the youngest Australian gold medallist when she was a member of the women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay 34 points team. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, she won three gold and two silver medals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephanie Millward</span> British Paralympic swimmer

Stephanie Millward, is a British Paralympic swimmer.

Sebastián Rodríguez Veloso is a Spanish Paralympic swimmer. He has competed at four Paralympic Games winning fifteen medals: eight gold, four silver and three bronze. His attendance at the Games was controversial after it was revealed that he had been jailed for bomb attacks while a member of First of October Anti-Fascist Resistance Groups (GRAPO).

Alice Tai, is a British paralympic swimmer. Tai competes in the SB8, SM8 and S8. She has represented Great Britain at European and World Championships and at the Commonwealth and Paralympic Games, gold medals at all levels.

Jeanette Clare Chippington, is a British Paralympic swimmer and paracanoeist. Chippington has represented Great Britain at seven Paralympics, five in swimming Summer Paralympics, 1988 Seoul, 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. Competing as a S6 classification swimmer she favoured mainly 50 m and 100m freestyle competitions. After retiring from swimming Chippington returned to disability sport, becoming a world class paracanoeist, winning gold at the 2016 Summer Paralympics and bronze at 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

Maisie Summers-Newton is a British Paralympic swimmer, competing in S6 disability events. In August 2018, she took gold in the IPC Swimming European Championships SM6 200m individual medley and set a new world record at 2:59.60. She also holds the S6 100m Breaststroke world record in 1:33.92, which she achieved in May 2018 at the British Para-Swimming International Meet. She won two gold medals for Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.

References

  1. 1 2 "Team GB continue Paralympic success". London: Times Online. 10 September 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  2. "Graham Edmunds". Paralympic.org. International Paralympic Committee.
  3. 1 2 3 "Graham beats odds to qualify for Paralympics". Reading Post. 27 July 2004. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  4. "Edmunds targets Paralympic gold". BBC Sport. 16 July 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  5. "Results ATHENS 2004 Paralympic Games Swimming Men's 100 m Freestyle S10". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  6. "Results ATHENS 2004 Paralympic Games Swimming Men's 50 m Freestyle S10". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  7. Davies, Gareth (23 September 2004). "Swimmers on crest of a wave". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  8. Hudson, Elizabeth (22 September 2004). "Paralympic diary: Day six". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  9. "In-form Kindred sets world record". BBC Sport. 6 April 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  10. "Results Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games Swimming Men's 4x100 m Medley 34 pts". International paralympic Committee. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  11. "Simmonds claims fourth Euro title". BBC Sport. 22 October 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  12. "Final day joy for GB's swimmers". BBC Sport. 24 October 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  13. "Paralympians appointed to Athlete Committee for UKAD". British Paralympic Association. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
  14. "UK Anti-Doping's newly formed Athlete Committee provides advice on all matters of anti-doping". UKAD. Retrieved 19 April 2011.