Bethany Charlotte Firth (born 14 February 1996) is a Northern Irish Paralympic swimmer. Since 2014 she has competed for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

; previously, Firth had represented

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. A six time

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

gold medalist, she has won gold in her specialist event - the 100 metres backstroke - for both Ireland at the

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

and Great Britain at the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport event, 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 Inte ...

. These were in addition to the Mixed 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay S14 at the 2020 Games, and 200 metres medley and 200 metres freestyle for Great Britain at the 2016 Games, where she was the nation's most successful Paralympian with three golds and a silver medal. She competes in the S14 classification for athletes with an intellectual impairment.Bethany Firth
. rio2016.com

Personal life

Bethany Charlotte Firth was born on 14 February 1996 in

Seaforde Seaforde is a small village in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is within the townland of Naghan,County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, Northern Ireland. Her father Peter is a teacher and former church minister, and her mother Lindsey is a

nurse practitioner A nurse practitioner (NP) is an advanced practice registered nurse and a type of mid-level practitioner. NPs are trained to assess patient needs, order and interpret diagnostic and laboratory tests, diagnose disease, prescribe medications an ...

. She is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and is a member of Christian Fellowship Church. Firth was educated at Longstone School in Dundonald. Firth has a learning difficulty that causes short term memory loss. She therefore competes in the S14 classification.

Swimming career

On 31 August 2012, Firth, competing for

in her first Paralympics, won a gold medal at the 2012 Paralympic games in London in the S14 100 metres backstroke final while representing Ireland. Firth, who has learning difficulties, had been swimming for only three years. Firth won three silver medals at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships. Later in the same year she announced her intention to switch national team and swim for

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. ...

instead of Ireland after serving a period out of competition, as "Team GB has other S14 swimmers – who have learning disabilities – with whom she can relate." The following year she represented

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

in the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

, competing in seven events against non-disabled athletes. In March 2015 Firth broke the world record for the S14 100m breaststroke in qualifying for that year's IPC World Championships. Firth failed to compete in the World Championships after suffering a fractured wrist in training just a few days before the competition. On 26 April 2016, in the qualifiers for the

2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, f ...

in Rio, Firth set a new world record in the S14 200 metres freestyle. Competing at the British Para-International meet in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, she recorded a time of 2:03.70. On 8 September 2016, Firth defended the title that she had won in 2012 in the S14 100m backstroke, for the 2016 Summer Paralympics at

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. She did this, winning in a world record time of 1:04.05 whilst competing for Paralympics GB. She also won gold in the women's 200m freestyle S14, and the women's 200m individual medley SM14, and silver in the women's 100m breaststroke SB14. At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, Firth defended her title in the 100m backstroke S14 and also won gold in the mixed 4 x 100m freestyle relay S14. In addition, she took silver in the women's 200m freestyle S14 and women's 200m individual medley SM14. Firth 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 valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to swimming and promoted to

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) 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 celebratio ...

, also for services to swimming. She has also received an honorary

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

from

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

in 2017.

Recognition

She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2019.

References

External links

* * *
Bethany Firth
at Paralympics Ireland (archived) * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Firth, Bethany 1996 births Living people Female swimmers from Northern Ireland S14-classified para swimmers Paralympic swimmers for Ireland Paralympic swimmers for Great Britain Paralympic gold medalists for Ireland Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain Paralympic medalists in swimming Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Northern Ireland Swimmers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Medalists at the World Para Swimming European Championships Officers of the Order of the British Empire Christians from Northern Ireland Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Swimmers from County Down Irish female medley swimmers Irish female freestyle swimmers Irish female butterfly swimmers Irish female backstroke swimmers Irish female breaststroke swimmers British female medley swimmers British female freestyle swimmers British female butterfly swimmers British female backstroke swimmers British female breaststroke swimmers 21st-century sportswomen from Northern Ireland

Personal life

Swimming career

Recognition

See also

References

External links