Janice Burton MBE (born 11 April 1958) is a retired 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 Paral ...

. Burton competed in B1 events having completely lost sight in both of her eyes. She won a total of 23 Paralympic medals during a career that spanned four Games. As of 2021, Burton remains the second most decorated British Paralympian after cyclist and former swimmer

Dame Sarah Storey Dame Sarah Joanne Storey, (née Bailey; born 26 October 1977) is a British Paralympic athlete in cycling and swimming, and a multiple gold medalist in the Paralympic Games, and six times British (able-bodied) national track champion (2 × Pur ...

, and the most decorated British Paralympian in a single sport. In a career that spanned both the pre- and post-

IPC IPC may refer to: Computing * Infrastructure protection centre or information security operations center * Instructions per cycle or instructions per clock, an aspect of central-processing performance * Inter-process communication, the sharin ...

era, Burton competed in both individual and relay races. In the individual events she won five gold medals with three coming in the 1992 Games in Barcelona. As well as achieving Paralympic success she also triumphed in European and World competitions, being crowned champion a total of 15 times. Burton was appointed a

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 ...

(MBE) in the

1999 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1999 for various Commonwealth realms were announced on 30 December 1998, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 1999. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various orders, d ...

list "for services to Sport, especially Swimming, for Visually Impaired People."UK list: Since retiring from competitive swimming Janice undertakes public speaking for Guide Dogs and about her Paralympic career. She has also taken part in the display events at the

Horse of the Year Show The Horse of the Year Show - also known as HOYS (pronounced /hois/)- was founded to be a culmination of the British equestrian events year. The Show was the idea of Captain Tony Collings and was realised by the then Chairman of BSJA (now British ...

. Burton's sporting retirement coincided with a dedication to further physical challenges despite her disability; at 40 years of age Burton learned to water ski, at 50 she learned to snow ski, and at 60 took up zip wiring.

Notes

: The

British Paralympic Association The British Paralympic Association (BPA) is the National Paralympic Committee for ''Great Britain'' (GBR), and is responsible for the United Kingdom's participation in the Paralympic Games. The BPA select, prepare, enter, fund and manage the G ...

states that Burton has won 23 medals but the Official Paralympic results service only lists 20 results. This is due to Burton's participation in relay races where the competitors' names were not listed in the database.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burton, Janice 1958 births Living people British female freestyle swimmers Paralympic swimmers for Great Britain Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Swimmers at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Members of the Order of the British Empire Paralympic medalists in swimming