Heather Frederiksen

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(born 30 December 1985) is a retired British

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

swimmer. She is former world record holder in the women's S8 100 m backstroke, 50 m freestyle, 100 m freestyle, 200 m freestyle and 400 m freestyle events. , she still holds European records in the S8 200 m and 400 m freestyle. Frederiksen is a two time

champion in the 100m backstroke S8 classification, and has won eight Paralympic medals in all.

Early life and education

Frederiksen was born in

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

, England. She attended the Lowton Church of England High School for secondary school.

Career

In 2004, prior to her accident, she won both the British 10 km Open Water Championship and 4.5 km British Grand Prix on the same day. Following her accident, Frederiksen returned to competition in the S8 (

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disadvantage of swimm ...

and freestyle), SB7 ( breaststroke) and SM8 ( medley) classifications. Her first senior para-swimming meet came at the 2007 German Open, in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. In her first appearance at the British Championships in 2008 Frederiksen won two gold and two silver medals from her six events and set a number of national records. At the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was f ...

, in Beijing, she competed in five events and won four medals. Her first medal, a silver in the women's 100 m freestyle – S8 final on 8 September, was followed two days later by gold in the women's 100 m backstroke – S8 in a new IPC world record time of one minute 16.74 seconds. A bronze medal was won by Frederiksen in the 200 m individual medley and her final medal of the games came with a silver in the 400 m freestyle. In her final event, the 50 m freestyle, she reached the final but finished in 7th position. In all three races where Frederikson won silver or bronze medals it was American

Jessica Long Jessica Tatiana Long (born February 29, 1992) 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, winnin ...

who won the gold medal. An in-competition drug test at the 2009 IPC Swimming European Championships found high levels of salbutamol in Frederiksen's bloodstream. Frederiksen is asthmatic, and had used the medication to abort a severe asthma attack. She received a 6 months doping ban, backdated to the day of the drug test, and had to forfeit the two medals she won later in the competition. The

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

saw Frederiksen claim another gold medal in the 100 m backstroke S8, along with silver medals in both the 400 m freestyle S8 and 100 m freestyle S8. In October 2012 Heather Frederiksen (and silver medallist Louise Watkin) left the city of Salford, according to BBC Sport, as a result of a breakdown in the relationship with coach John Stout. She was appointed

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) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to swimming. Frederiksen retired from competitive swimming in 2013, after becoming pregnant with her first child.

Injury

At the end of 2004, Frederiksen suffered a serious accident that left her with limited use of her right arm and leg, and the need to use a wheelchair. Her doctors told her she would never swim again, and when she tried she found herself swimming in circles. It was in 2006, whilst watching television coverage of the swimming events at 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 ...

, in

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, that Frederiksen decided she wanted to swim again. After her Paralympic success she said of the experience, "I saw Joanne Jackson win the gold in the 400 m and I just said to myself, 'I'm not ready to finish. I'll finish when I want to finish, not when someone else tells me to'"—she had previously competed against Jackson.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frederiksen, Heather Living people 1985 births Members of the Order of the British Empire People from Billinge, Merseyside Paralympic swimmers for Great Britain Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain World record holders in paralympic swimming Doping cases in swimming English sportspeople in doping cases Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics British female breaststroke swimmers British female backstroke swimmers British female medley swimmers English female freestyle swimmers Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics S8-classified para swimmers Medalists at the World Para Swimming European Championships Paralympic medalists in swimming 21st-century British women

Early life and education

Career

Injury

See also

Notes