Natalie Jones (born 31 October 1984) 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 ...

. She competes in S6 classification events and has represented Great Britain at four Paralympics winning five medals, including two golds at Athens in 2004.

Career history

Jones was born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...

, England, and after being delivered via an emergency caesarean she failed to breathe for the first nine minutes of her life. Jones, who has

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 sens ...

, was first introduced to the sport of swimming by a school teacher at the age of ten. At the age of 15, she was selected for the Great Britain team at the

2000 Summer Paralympics The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was last time that the Summer Paralympics which were organized by two different ...

in Sydney, becoming the swimming squad's youngest member. She competed in four events at Sydney, with her best result being in the 4x50m Medley Relay (20pts), where she and her teammates finished 6th. In 2004 Jones moved from her homebase in Colchester to Manchester where she joined Manchester HPC. Later that year she was re-selected to represent Great Britain at 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 = Olympi ...

in Athens. She took part in six events, finishing on the podium twice. She won the gold in both the 200m Individual Medley (SM6) and as part of the 4x50m Medley Relay (20pts) along with

Nyree Lewis Nyree Elise Kindred MBE (''née'' Lewis; born 21 September 1980 in Rhondda, Wales) is a Welsh swimmer who has competed in the Paralympic Games on four occasions winning ten medals. Early life Kindred took up swimming at the age of 5, having ...

, Maggie McEleny and Jane Stidever. Jones continued to compete at an international level, and won two gold medals and a silver at the 2006 IPC World Championships held in South Africa. By 2008 Jones was in a relationship with fellow Paralympian Rik Waddon, and both qualified for 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. Jones won another two medals, this time a pair of bronzes in the 50m Freestyle (S6) and the 200m Individual Medley (SM6). Waddon also medalled, with a silver in the 1 km time trial. At the 2009 IPC World Swimming Championships in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

, Jones won medals in all five of the events she entered. She took bronze in the 50m Butterfly (S6), silver in the 50m Freestyle (S6), 100m Freestyle (S6) and her favoured 200m Individual Medley 100m and a gold in the Individual Medley (SM6). She followed this with four bronzes at the 2010 IPC World Championships in Eindhoven. She married Waddon in 2010. They are each the subject of a

Lego minifigure A Lego minifigure, commonly referred to as a minifig, is a small plastic articulated figurine produced by Danish toy manufacturer The Lego Group. They were first produced in 1978 and have been a success, with over 4 billion produced worldwide as ...

. Jones was selected for her fourth Paralympics, after making the team for the 2012 Games in London. At London Jones was selected for five events. She qualified for three finals, the 100m freestyle (S6), 400m freestyle (S6) and the 200m individual medley (SM6). She finished seventh in both 100m and 400m freestyle events and took bronze in the 200m individual medley, finishing just 0.01 seconds behind Verena Schott of Germany who took the silver medal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Natalie Living people 1984 births Sportspeople from Colchester Paralympic swimmers of Great Britain English female swimmers Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics S6-classified Paralympic swimmers Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Medalists at the World Para Swimming European Championships Paralympic medalists in swimming British female medley swimmers 21st-century British women