Grace Harvey (born 31 August 1998) is a British

Paralympic swimmer Para swimming is an adaptation of the sport of swimming for athletes with disabilities. Para swimmers compete at the Summer Paralympic Games and at other sports competitions throughout the world. The sport is governed by the International Para ...

, and European and British record holder, who specializes in the

breaststroke Breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and that it can be s ...

Career

Harvey is a British para-swimmer competing in the S6 SB5 SM6 classification for swimmers with a physical impairment. Grace's home town is

Ware, Hertfordshire Ware is a town in Hertfordshire, England close to the county town of Hertford. It is also a civil parishes in England, civil parish in East Hertfordshire district. Location The town lies on the north–south A10 road (Great Britain), A10 road ...

. She learnt to swim when aged four and she took it up as a sport to control the symptoms of

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensa ...

which caused her legs to spasm. She decided that she wanted to be an athlete after she watched the

2004 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 136 , athletes = 3,806 , events = 519 in 19 sports , opening = 17 September , closing = 28 September , opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos , cauldron = Georgios Toptsis , stadium = Olympic ...

. Harvey is supported by National Lottery funding. Harvey's favourite competition location is Sheffield at the

Ponds Forge Ponds Forge International Sports Centre is a leisure complex in Sheffield, England, that contains an Olympic-sized swimming pool with seating for 2,600 spectators, family and children's pools (50 m Competition pool and 25 m diving p ...

sports centre. In April 2021 she came first in points in the freestyle swimming where she beat

Maisie Summers-Newton Maisie Summers-Newton (born 26 July 2002) is a British Paralympic Swimming (sport), swimmer, competing in Disability sport classification#Swimming, S6 disability events. In August 2018, she took gold in the IPC Swimming European Championships ...

into second place. She and

Lyndon Longhorne Lyndon may refer to: Places * Lyndon, Alberta, Canada * Lyndon, Rutland, East Midlands, England * Lyndon, Solihull, West Midlands, England United States * Lyndon, Illinois * Lyndon, Kansas * Lyndon, Kentucky * Lyndon, New York * Lyndon, Ohio * L ...

both broke European records and together with Conner Morrison they were all early picks for 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 ...

by the selectors. Her good friend

Alice Tai 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 l ...

had to withdraw from the delayed 2020 Summer Paralympics due to an injury to her elbow in June 2021. While Harvey was training in Japan before the Tokyo games began she (and the BBC) was invited to

Suzuka International University is a private university in Suzuka, Mie, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while ...

where she tried out a robotic walking suit that allowed her to walk for the first time. She found the experience "overwhelming" but later that day she cried realising that this might be the first and last time and that she now knew a pleasure that she had never known, but could now miss. In August 2022 she won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham by swimming the Women's 100m Breaststroke SB6.

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* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, Grace 1998 births Living people British female breaststroke swimmers S6-classified para swimmers Paralympic swimmers for Great Britain Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain Paralympic medalists in swimming Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Swimmers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games People from Ware, Hertfordshire