Dianne Barr (born 13 September 1972) is a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

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 ...

from

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight roll-on roll-off port. Larne is administered by Mid ...

. Barr started swimming at the age of four, and has a congenital abnormality of the lower leg. At the age of eleven, her lower leg was

amputated Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indiv ...

and replaced with a

prosthetic limb In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

. Barr represented Team GB & NI at the 1988 Summer Paralympic Games in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

, at the age of 16, winning

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

in the 100m

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 ...

A4, the 4 × 100m medley relay and the 4 × 100m freestyle

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switch ...

with her teammates

Joanne Rout Joanne Elizabeth Rout, née Round (born 1975, Bishop Auckland, England) is a retired British Paralympic swimmer. Joanne came to national attention when she competed in the 1988 Seoul Paralympics. Round was the youngest member of the Great Britai ...

, Thelma Young and Linda Walters. She also won bronze in the 100m freestyle A4 and the 400m freestyle A4. At the 1992 Summer Paralympic Games, Barr won bronze in the 100m backstroke S10. In 2012,

Trevor Ringland Trevor Maxwell Ringland, (born 13 November 1959) is a Northern Irish solicitor, former rugby union player and politician. From June 2013 to July 2014, he served as Co-Chairman of the NI Conservatives. After attending Larne Grammar School, he rea ...

, who like Barr attended

Larne Grammar School Larne Grammar School is a co-educational voluntary grammar school located in Larne, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Founded in 1886 by Sir Edward Coey and John Crawford, it has around 760 pupils and 50 teaching staff. History The school was ...

, called for more recognition for Barr's impressive achievements.http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/regional/call-to-honour-ulster-s-first-paralympic-hero-1-4200749 Newspaper report on Trevor Ringland's call for more recognition for the success of Dianne Barr

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barr, Dianne 1972 births Living people Sportspeople from County Antrim People from Larne Paralympic swimmers of Great Britain Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain People educated at Larne Grammar School Medalists at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in swimming British female freestyle swimmers British female backstroke swimmers S10-classified Paralympic swimmers