Monica Vaughan (15 April 1952) is a retired British athlete and multiple gold medal-winning

paralympic swimmer Para swimming is an adaptation of the sport of swimming (sport), swimming for athletes with disability, disabilities. Para swimmers compete at the Swimming at the Summer Paralympics, Summer Paralympic Games and at other sports competitions through ...

. She was Britain's most successful Paralympian at the 1976 Games in Toronto, winning five gold medals in swimming and a silver medal as the only woman in the British volleyball team. She returned for the 1980 Games in Arhnem, winning a further four gold medals and a silver.

Early life

Vaughan grew up in

Cosham Cosham ( or ) is a northern suburb of Portsmouth lying within the city boundary but off Portsea Island, in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, England. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 along with Drayton and Wymering (mainland) an ...

, Hampshire. She had a leg

amputated Amputation is the removal of a limb or other body part 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 ...

at the age of four, after she fell under a

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

. At

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

, she had swimming lessons every summer, but never learned to swim. The lessons started with the

breaststroke Breaststroke is a human swimming, swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and ...

, which was difficult to swim as a mid-thigh amputee. A science teacher at

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

taught her the

front crawl The front crawl or forward crawl, also known as the Australian crawl or American crawl, is a swimming stroke usually regarded as the fastest of the four front primary strokes. As such, the front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a ...

and within weeks she was able to swim. Vaughan joined the local swimming club, Portsmouth Northsea SC. In 1966, Vaughan was disqualified from a

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

race, because she didn't move her legs together and simultaneously. Northsea's protests against the lack of

inclusion Inclusion or Include may refer to: Sociology * Social inclusion, action taken to support people of different backgrounds sharing life together. ** Inclusion (disability rights), promotion of people with disabilities sharing various aspects of lif ...

, lead to a meeting with the

Amateur Swimming Association Swim England is the national governing body for swimming, diving, water polo, open water swimming, and synchronised swimming in England. It forms part of Aquatics GB, a federation of the national governing bodies of England, Scotland ( Scottis ...

and a change of the rules. The news was covered in newspapers as far away as

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. Vaughan worked as a

podiatrist A podiatrist ( ) is a medical professional devoted to the treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle, and related structures of the leg. The term originated in North America but has now become the accepted term in the English-speaking world for ...

before retiring. Vaughan was appointed

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

2025 Birthday Honours The 2025 King's Birthday and Operational Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of Charles III, King Charles III to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good ...

for services to sport.

References

1952 births Living people British female freestyle swimmers Paralympic swimmers for Great Britain Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain Swimmers at the 1976 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1980 Summer Paralympics Volleyball players at the 1976 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1976 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1980 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in swimming Paralympic medalists in volleyball British female backstroke swimmers 20th-century British sportswomen Swimmers from Portsmouth English female butterfly swimmers British female butterfly swimmers English female breaststroke swimmers British female breaststroke swimmers English female backstroke swimmers English female freestyle swimmers 20th-century English sportswomen {{Sittingvolleyball-bio-stub