Susannah Elizabeth Joy Rodgers, MBE (born 9 August 1983) is a British Paralympic swimmer. She competes in S7 classification events and won three bronze medals at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and a gold at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
Susannah Elizabeth Joy Rodgers, MBE (born 9 August 1983) is a British Paralympic swimmer. She competes in S7 classification events and won three bronze medals at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and a gold at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
Rodgers was born on 9 August 1983 in Stockton-on-Tees, England. [2] [3] She was born without a fully formed arm or leg on the left side of her body. [4] Susie was announced as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2018, a year after her retirement from professional sport in 2017.
She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in modern languages from the University of Newcastle and is able to speak Catalan, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. [2] She combined her swimming career with a job as a project manager for the British Council. She is a qualified non-executive director through the Financial Times NED programme, amongst other roles. [5]
Rodgers first learned to swim when living in Egypt as a child but did not take up competitive swimming until she was inspired by watching the British team at the 2008 Summer Paralympics. She competes in the S7 Paralympic classification for swimmers with a physical impairment. [2]
Her first appearance at an international event came at the 2011 IPC European Championships held in Berlin, Germany. [5] At the meet Rodgers won six medals, five gold and one silver. [2] [5] [6] She won individual gold in the 400 metres freestyle, in a new European record time, [7] and relay gold in the 34pt 4×100 m freestyle alongside Louise Watkin, Lauren Steadman and Claire Cashmore. [8] Her second individual gold medal came in the 100 metres backstroke as she set a time of 1:26.09, a new British record, to beat German world record holder Kirsten Bruhn into second place. [9] She won her fourth gold medal by setting a new European record time of 36.74 seconds in the 50 metres butterfly, [10] and followed it with her fifth in the 100 metres freestyle. She also won a silver medal in the 50 metres freestyle. [2]
She was selected to compete for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, as part of a 44-swimmer squad. [11] At the Games she competed in the 50, 100 and 400 freestyle, the 50 meters butterfly, the 100 metres backstroke and the 4×100 m freestyle relay. [12] Rodgers won bronze medals in the 100 metres freestyle and the relay, alongside Cashmore, Watkin and Stephanie Millward. She completed a hat trick of bronze medals by finishing third in the 400 metres freestyle, setting new European records in both the heats and the final, to win Great Britain's one hundredth medal of the Games. [13] [14] She also achieved finishes of fourth in the butterfly and sixth in the backstroke. [15] [16]
In 2013 Rodgers was selected to represent Great Britain again, this time at the IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal. In her three individual freestyle events; the 50 m S7, 100 m S7 and the 400 m S7 she was beaten into silver on each occasion by American Cortney Jordan. In her only butterfly event, the 50 m S7, she again took second place, this time losing the top podium place to Canada's Brianna Nelson. Rodgers left Canada with one more medal, taking the gold in the 4x100 m freestyle relay (34 points) alongside Stephanie Millward, Claire Cashmore and Amy Marren. The second and third places in the 100m relay went to Canada and the US, those teams contained both Nelson and Jordan.
At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Rodgers won gold in the women's 50m butterfly S7, [17] and a bronze in both the women's 400m freestyle S7 [18] and women's 50m freestyle S7 [19]
She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to swimming. [20]
Francesca Jean Halsall is a retired English competitive swimmer who has represented Great Britain at the Olympics, FINA world championships, and European championships, and England at the Commonwealth Games. She competed primarily in freestyle and butterfly events.
Nyree Elise Kindred MBE is a Welsh swimmer who has competed in the Paralympic Games on four occasions winning ten medals.
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.
Louise Stephanie Watkin is a British Paralympic swimmer. Watkin swims in the S9 category and represented Great Britain in the 2012 Summer Paralympics, in which she won two silver and two bronze medals. She won one silver and three bronze medals at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing.
Jacqueline Rose "Jacqui" Freney is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. At the 2012 London Games, she broke Siobhan Paton's Australian record of six gold medals at a single Games by winning her seventh gold medal in the Women's 400 m Freestyle S7. She finished the Games with eight gold medals, more than any other participant in the Games.
Georgia Beth Davies is a British competition swimmer who has represented Great Britain in the Olympic Games and European championships, and swam for Wales in the Commonwealth Games. She has won gold in the Commonwealth Games and European Championships. She currently represents Energy Standard in the International Swimming League.
Tanya Huebner is an Australian swimmer. She has represented Australia at the 2012 London and the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Jonathan Andrew Fox is a British Paralympic swimmer.
Hannah Russell, is a British Paralympic swimmer competing in S12 classification events. In 2012, she became British S12 champion in the 100m backstroke and qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games where she won a silver in the 400m freestyle and a bronze in the 100m butterfly. In the 2016 Summer Paralympic Games, she won the gold medal in the 100m backstroke with the time of 1:06:06 earning her the World Record.
Bethany Charlotte Firth, is a Northern Irish Paralympic swimmer. Since 2014 she has competed for Great Britain; previously, Firth had represented Ireland. A six time Paralympic gold medalist, she has won gold in her specialist event - the 100 metres backstroke - for both Ireland at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and Great Britain at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics. These were in addition to the Mixed 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay S14 at the 2020 Games, and 200 metres medley and 200 metres freestyle for Great Britain at the 2016 Games, where she was the nation's most successful Paralympian with three golds and a silver medal. She competes in the S14 classification for athletes with an intellectual impairment.
Jessica-Jane Applegate MBE is a British Paralympic swimmer. Applegate competes in the S14 classification for swimmers with intellectual disabilities, mainly freestyle and backstroke preferring shorter distances. She qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympics and on 2 September, Applegate won the gold setting a Paralympic record in the S14 200m freestyle.
Stephanie Millward is a British former Paralympic swimmer.
Tully Alicia Jacqueline Kearney is a British Paralympic swimmer. Kearney currently competes in the S5/SB4/SM5 classification for swimmers with physical disabilities. She won gold and silver at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and followed this up at the Paris 2024 Games with two further gold medals, including retaining her 100 m freestyle S5 title. Since first competing at the World Para Swimming Championships in 2013 she has won thirteen World Championship medals, ten of which are gold. Kearney is a multiple British, European and World record holder.
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.
McKenzie Coan is an American swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, she swam the 400m Freestyle in the S8 category. Coan was one of four S8 category swimmers chosen to compete for Team USA at the games. She later had her breakout games in the 2016 Summer Paralympics, where she would go on to win 3 gold medals in the category S7 50, 100, and 400M Freestyle races, with an additional silver medal in the 34-point women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle relay. In the process of getting her gold medal in the 50M Freestyle she also set a new Paralympic Record.
Toni Stephanie Shaw is a British Paralympic swimmer. In 2019 she set the world record time for the S9 200m butterfly, and was also part of the team that set a new world record for the 4 × 100 m medley relay. At the 2020 Summer Paralympics, she won a bronze medal in the women's 400 metre freestyle S9 event and later went on to win gold at the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships, becoming the World Champion. She is a three-time World Champion and two-time European Champion.
Suzanna Hext is a British Paralympic swimmer and equestrian, who won three gold medals in dressage at the 2017 FEI European Championships, and two medals at both the 2019 and 2023 World Para Swimming Championships. She finished fourth in two S5 swimming events at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Danielle Dorris is a Canadian Paralympic swimmer. She represented Canada at the 2016, 2020 and 2024 Summer Paralympics, winning back-to-back gold medals in the women's S7 50-metre butterfly in 2020 and 2024.
Poppy Maskill is a British Paralympic swimmer. Maskill competes in the S14, SM14 and SB14 classifications for swimmers with intellectual impairments. She won three gold and two silver medals at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, making her ParalympicsGB's most successful athlete at the Games.