David Roberts (swimmer) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

David Evan Roberts CBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

(born 25 May 1980 in Llantwit Fardre

Llantwit Fardre

Llantwit Fardre is a large village situated on the A473, Pontypridd to Bridgend , road near the Welsh towns of Pontypridd and Llantrisant. Confusingly, Llantwit Fardre is also the name of the old parish and the community area that takes in the villages of Llantwit Fardre, Tonteg and Church...

), is a Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

swimmer. An eleven-time Paralympic

Paralympic Games

The Paralympic Games are a major international multi-sport event where athletes with a physical disability compete; this includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and Cerebral Palsy. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which are held immediately following their...

gold medallist, he is one of Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

's most successful Paralympian

Paralympian

A Paralympian is an athlete who has participated in the Paralympic Games.A Paralympic athlete has a physical disability. The disability can be amputation, spinal cord injuries, visual impairment or cerebral palsy. An exception is the sighted guides for athletes with a visual impairment...

s ever.

Swimming career

Roberts went to Llwyncrwn Primary School and moved on to Bryn Celynnog

Bryn Celynnog

Bryn Celynnog Comprehensive is a state run school located in Beddau, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales.-Alumni:Its alumni include many rugby stars who have gone on to be highly successful, such as rugby players Neil Jenkins MBE, Michael Owen, and Gethin Jenkins, who have all represented the British and...

Comprehensive School in his teens. He currently lives in Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

. He is a professional disabled swimmer who represents Caerphilly County Swim Squad, Wales

Wales

and Great Britain

Great Britain

. He previously trained at the Swansea High Performance Centre at the Wales National Pool in Swansea

Swansea

Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

but now trains with Caerphilly County Swim Squad with his new coach Peter Key. He was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age eleven and was encouraged to participate in swimming activities as a form of physical therapy. His International Paralympic Committee (IPC) swimming category is S7 SB7 SM7.

His first represented Wales

Wales

in competition in Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

in 1993. His first major competition for Great Britain was at the 1999 European Disabled swimming Championships in Braunschweig, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

where he won all four of his races. He competed in his first Paralympic Games in Sydney in the summer of 2000. Here he won an impressive haul of seven medals.

At the 2001 European Disabled Swimming Championships in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, David won five gold medals including a clean sweep of the S7 50 m, 100 m and 400 m freestyle events.

The Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

2002 Commonwealth Games

The 2002 Commonwealth Games were held in Manchester, England from 25 July to 4 August 2002. The XVII Commonwealth Games was the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in the UK, eclipsing London's 1948 Summer Olympics in numbers of teams and athletes participating.After the 1996 Manchester...

saw Elite Athletes with Disabilities (EAD) competing alongside able-bodied athletes at a major competition for the first time. David was the only disabled swimmer from Great Britain to win a medal, taking the bronze in the men’s multi disability 100 m freestyle.

Roberts won his first IPC World Swimming Championship medals in Mar Del Plata, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

in December 2002. He won three gold medals, one silver and one bronze.

His second experience of Paralympic action came at the Athens 2004 Summer Paralympics

2004 Summer Paralympics

The 2004 Summer Paralympics were held in Athens, Greece, from September 17 to September 28. The twelfth Paralympic Games, an estimated 4,000 athletes took part in the Athens programme, with ages ranging from 11 to 66. Paralympic events had already taken place during the 2004 Summer Olympics as...

. Here David won four golds and one silver. His medals came in the following events:

Men's 50 m freestyle S7 - Gold
Men's 100 m freestyle S7 - Gold
Men's 400 m freestyle S7 - Gold
Men's 200 m individual medley SM7 - Silver
Men's 4x100 m freestyle relay 34 pts - Gold

His achievements at the 2000 and 2004 Paralympics, alongside his previous successes for Great Britain, earned David an MBE for his services to disabled sport in the Queen’s New Years Honours. He received his award from the Queen at Buckingham Palace in March 2005. He also made it onto the shortlist of the 2004 BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year

BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year

The BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year is a televised sporting competition, broadcast on BBC Two every year; and the most prestigious annual sport award in Wales. It was first awarded in 1954, and is currently organised by BBC Cymru Wales...

Award which was won by Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson

Tanni Grey-Thompson

Carys Davina "Tanni" Grey-Thompson, Baroness Grey-Thompson, DBE is a Welsh athlete and TV presenter.Grey-Thompson was born with spina bifida and uses a wheelchair. She is considered to be one of the most successful disabled athletes in the UK...

.

David retained his Commonwealth Games men’s multi disability 100 m freestyle bronze medal at the 2006 event held in Melbourne, Australia. At the 2006 IPC World Swimming Championships, held in Durban, South Africa, he won four gold, 1 silver and a bronze. Included in the medal haul was another clean sweep in the S7 freestyle events.

The first half of 2008 saw David set new world records for the S7 50 m, 100 m, 200 m and 400 m freestyle events in the space of six weeks. He retained his S7 50 m freestyle World record off Great Britain rival Matthew Walker in April at the British Swimming Championships in Sheffield setting a new time of 27.67. At the same event he lowered his S7 100 m freestyle world record to a new time of 1:00.34.

He set a new S7 200 m world record of 2:18.86 at the German Open Championships in May 2008. For the first time in his career he finally took the S7 400 m freestyle world record, which had been held by Dean Booth from New Zealand for eight years previously, at the British International Swimming Championships held in Sheffield in April, recording a time of 4:49.12.

He achieved selection for his third consecutive Paralympics in May 2008 by being named as part of the squad to attend the Beijing Paralympics.

He won four gold medals at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games taking the S7 50 m, 100 m and 400 m freestyle events and was part of the gold medal winning Great Britain 34 point 4×100 m freestyle relay team that broke the world record by seven seconds. Other members of the team were Graham Edmunds

Graham Edmunds

Graham Edmunds is a British swimmer who has competed in two Paralympic Games, winning two gold medals in world record times...

, Robert Welbourn

Robert Welbourn

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....

and Matthew Walker.

To show support for his, at the time, coach Billy Pye, who supports Cardiff City

Cardiff city

Cardiff City may refer to:* Cardiff city centre* Cardiff City Council* Cardiff City F.C.* Cardiff City L.F.C.* Cardiff City Stadium...

Roberts performed The Ayatollah

The Ayatollah (football celebration)

The Ayatollah is a football celebration used by fans of Welsh football club Cardiff City. Performing the action is always preceded by a chant of "do the Ayatollah".-Action:...

in front of the Western Mail reporters to celebrate winning his 11th gold medal. David is a keen supporter of Liverpool FC and regularly attends games as a supporter of Welsh rugby team, Bridgend Ravens. In winning this 11th gold, David Roberts equalled Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson

Tanni Grey-Thompson

's record as being Wales and Britain's most successful Paralympian.

After winning four golds in the Beijing 2008 Paralympics, David was selected to carry out the British flag at the closing ceremony.

He appeared as a guest on an episode of the popular British TV sports quiz Question of Sport which aired on Friday 24 October 2008 on BBC One. He took a seat alongside regular team captain Matt Dawson and guest team mate, English cricketer Marcus Trescothick.

He was nominated for the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year Awards for the second time in December 2008.

Already a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), Roberts was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours. He received his CBE off Princess Anne in a ceremony held at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday June 24, 2009.

David was inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame along with J.J. Williams

J.J. Williams

John James Williams , known universally as J.J. Williams, is a former Welsh rugby union player who gained thirty caps for Wales as a winger....

and Clive Sullivan

Clive Sullivan

Clive A. Sullivan MBE was a Welsh rugby union and professional Rugby League World Cup winning footballer of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. A Great Britain and Wales international winger, he played with both Hull and Hull Kingston Rovers in his career, and also played for Oldham, and Doncaster...

at a ceremony held in Cardiff on June 5, 2009.

Penn Pharmaceuticals were the first corporate sponsor of David, from 2008 to date

At the start of 2010, David made the move from the Swansea High Performance Centre to Caerphilly County Swim Squad and a new coach in Peter Key. On March 4th, 2010, David was chosen to be a patron of the Jaguar Sports Academy. In August 2010 he once again represented Britain at the IPC World Swimming Championships, which were held in Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Despite only recently returning to action after a period of prolonged injury and illness, he still managed to retain his S7 100m Freestyle crown, alongside picking up a silver and two bronze medals. He was selected and competed for Wales at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games, coming 4th in the S8 100m Freestyle, an event which saw him swim against competitors a class higher than his own.

He proposed to his long term partner Agata Jankowska on a holiday trip to New York in October 2010. On March 11th he was invited to address the Human Rights Council in Geneva on London 2012 and the rights of people with disabilities.

Swimming career

See also