Kylie Grimes (born 7 December 1987 in

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alder ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

) is a British

para-athlete Para-athletics is the sport of athletics practised by people with a disability as a parasport. The athletics events within the parasport are mostly the same as those available to able-bodied people, with two major exceptions in wheelchair rac ...

. She is one of two women, along with Bieke Ketelbuters, who competed on

wheelchair rugby Wheelchair rugby (originally murderball, and known as quad rugby in the United States) is a team sport for athletes with a disability. It is practised in over twenty-five countries around the world and is a summer Paralympic sport. The US na ...

teams at 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 ...

. She was part of the GB team to win their first ever gold in the event, at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, beating the USA 54–49. In doing so she became the first woman of any country to win a Paralympic gold medal in the sport.

Early life

Grimes became disabled after a diving accident at a friend's swimming pool. She attempted to sue over the matter but was unsuccessful. She trains 12 hours a week. She considers herself positive and was surprised to be named to the British team.

Career

Grimes began playing wheelchair rugby in 2008. She is a gold medallist wheelchair rugby winner, the only female on the paralympics GB team, at Paralympics Tokyo 2020/2021. Grimes 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

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...

for services to wheelchair rugby.

Wheelchair rugby competition history

Grimes competed for Great Britain at the following championship events: *2015 World Para Athletics Championships Doha F51 Club (4th) and F52 100m (4th) *2016 European Para Athletics Championships Grosseto Italy F51 Club (4th) *2016 Rio Paralympics F51 Club (4th) *2017 World Para Athletics London F51 Club (5th) *2018 European Para Athletics Championship Berlin (3rd)

References

1987 births Living people Paralympic wheelchair rugby players for Great Britain Wheelchair rugby players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Sportspeople from Portsmouth Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Wheelchair rugby players at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in wheelchair rugby Members of the Order of the British Empire Competitors at the 2022 World Games World Games gold medalists {{Wheelchairrugby-bio-stub