Alice Tai, (born 31 January 1999) 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.

Personal history

Tai was born in Poole, England in 1999 and grew up in

New Milton New Milton is a market town in southwest Hampshire, England. To the north is in the New Forest and to the south the coast at Barton-on-Sea. The town is equidistant between Lymington and Christchurch, 6 miles (10 km) away. History Ne ...

. Her parents are Steve, an IT specialist, and Angela, a teacher. She has a brother called Christian. Tai was born with bilateral talipes (clubfoot), and before the age of 12 she had undergone 14 corrective operations to alleviate her condition, sometimes requiring a wheelchair for long periods of time during recovery. She studied neuroscience in London. In January 2022, her right leg was amputated below the knee after worsening pain in her right foot.

Career

Tai began swimming at the age of eight joining the Seagulls Swimming Club in

. It was not until the winter of 2010 that her family realised that she could be classified as a disability swimmer. In 2011, she was officially classified as a S10 swimmer allowing her to compete in international competitions. In 2012 Tai showed her potential at the 2012 British International Disability Swimming Championships in Sheffield, where she won silver in the Youth final of the NC (Nutella-Classification) 400m freestyle, beaten to gold place by

Amy Marren Amy Marren (born 14 August 1998) is a British para swimmer who became the SM9 200m individual medley world champion at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships. At the same championships, she won gold in the S9 100m butterfly, as well as bein ...

. Tai made progress into senior competitions in 2013. She made the finals of three senior events at the British International Disability Swimming Championships. She followed this with a third place in the MC 50m Freestyle and a second place in the MC 100m Freestyle at the ASA National Championships in Sheffield. In January 2014, Tai was one of four British swimmers selected to compete at the Brazil School Games in São Paulo. She won gold in the 50m freestyle and backstroke S10 category and silver in the SB9 50m breaststroke, again beaten by her teammate Amy Marren. She followed youth success by breaking into the British team after a strong show at the Para-Swimming International Meet in Glasgow. In the summer of 2014 Tai travelled to Eindhoven with the British team to take part in the IPC European Championships. She entered five events, the 50m Freestyle S10, 100m Freestyle S10, 400m Freestyle S10, 100m backstroke S10 and the 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay 34 Points. Tai came seventh in the 50m freestyle and fourth in the individual 100m freestyle, 0.31 seconds outside the medal positions, but finished on the podium in the other three events. She took bronze in the 400m freestyle and silver in the 100m backstroke while along with teammates Stephanie Millward, Susannah Rodgers and

Stephanie Slater Stephanie Slater, (born 7 February 1991) is a British Paralympic swimming, Paralympic swimmer competing in S8 classification events. Slater began her sporting career as an able bodied athlete, but after suffering nerve damage to her left arm s ...

, she secured gold in 100m freestyle relay. The following year Tai was one of 18 competitors selected to represent Britain at the 2015 IPC World Championships in Glasgow. She was selected for seven events. Tai failed to progress through the heats in the 50m Freestyle S10, 100m Freestyle S10 and 400m Freestyle S10, but finished on the podium in four events. On the fourth day of the competition, Tai won bronze in two events, the 100m backstroke S10 and less than two hours later she was part of the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay 34pts that finished third behind Australia and the United States. The following day Tai won her third bronze, finishing very closely behind Poland's Oliwia Jablonska in the 100m butterfly S10. She finished her tournament with a gold medal in the Women's 4 x 100-metre medley relay (34pts), along with

Claire Cashmore Claire Cashmore, (born 21 May 1988) is a Paralympic Swimming Champion and PTS5 classified British paratriathlete. She has been to four Paralympic Games with swimming and has won 4 bronze, 3 silver, and 1 gold medal. Cashmore also broke the wo ...

Tully Kearney Tully Alicia Jacqueline Kearney (born 11 April 1997) is a British Paralympic swimmer. Kearney competes in the S5 classification for swimmers with physical disabilities. She won Gold and Silver at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games setting World ...

and Susannah Rodgers. At the

2016 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

, Tai and the team won a gold medal in the 4 x 100 metre medley relay 34 pts, and got a bronze medal in the 100m backstroke S10. Tai won the gold in the 100m Backstroke S10 at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

Gold Coast, Australia The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nati ...

. She narrowly missed out on the British record, but won England's 100th gold medal for swimming in the history of the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

. She qualified for the 100m Freestyle S9 final, and finished with a silver medal, only just losing out on a gold on the final stretch. At 2019 London Para-swimming World Championships, Tai bagged six gold medals across six disciplines from the seven she competed in, coming 4th in the SM8 200m Individual Medley. Tai had to withdraw from the delayed

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralym ...

due to an injury to her elbow in June 2021, leaving her friend

Grace Harvey Grace Harvey (born 31 August 1998) is a British Paralympic swimmer, and European and British record holder, who specializes in the breaststroke. Career Harvey is a British para-swimmer competing in the S6 SB5 SM6 classification for swimmers wi ...

to go with the rest of the team. In July 2022 she won gold in the S8 100m backstroke at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. This was just months after having her right leg amputated below the knee.

Awards

In January 2017, Tai was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) for services to swimming. In March 2017, Tai was awarded the Youth Sport Trust Young Sports Person of the Year at the

Lycamobile Lycamobile is a British mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) operating in 60 countries. The brand is active in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal ...

British Ethnic Diversity Sports Awards (BEDSAs) held at the

London Hilton on Park Lane The London Hilton on Park Lane is a hotel situated on Park Lane, overlooking Hyde Park in the exclusive Mayfair district of London. It is tall, has 28 storeys and 453 rooms including 56 suites and a Michelin starred restaurant Galvin at Wind ...

. In November 2019, Tai was named The Sunday Times’ Disability Sportswoman of the Year.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tai, Alice 1998 births Living people English female freestyle swimmers British female medley swimmers British female butterfly swimmers Paralympic swimmers of Great Britain Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Medalists at the World Para Swimming European Championships Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Swimmers at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Members of the Order of the British Empire Sportspeople from Poole Paralympic medalists in swimming English amputees S8-classified Paralympic swimmers Swimmers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games 21st-century British women