Nyree Elise Kindred MBE (''née'' Lewis; born 21 September 1980 in

Rhondda Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( ), is a former coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fawr valley (, 'large') and t ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

) is a Welsh swimmer who has competed in the

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

on four occasions winning ten medals.

Early life

Kindred took up swimming at the age of 5, having been taken to a swimming pool by her aunt. Kindred has a form of

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, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...

and therefore competes in the S6 (

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 ...

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), 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 disa ...

, freestyle), SM6 ( medley) and SB5 (

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 ...

) classifications.

Paralympic career

Kindred's first appearance at a Paralympics came at the 2000 Games in Sydney, where she won 3 medals, 2 silver and a bronze. At the

2004 Summer Paralympics The 2004 Summer Paralympics (), the 12th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Athens, Greece, from 17 to 28 September ...

Kindred won her first Paralympic gold medal in the S6 100 metres backstroke event, in a new Paralympic record time of 1:32.03. She followed this up with another gold in the 4×50 m medley 20 pts relay, silver medals in both the 100 m breaststroke SB5 and 200 m SM6 individual medley, and a bronze in the 400 m freestyle S6. In the 100 metres S6 backstroke at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing Kindred was beaten into second place by Dutch swimmer Mirjam de Koning-Peper. Kindred explained her defeat by saying "My legs were spasming, but to be honest, there are no excuses for that, ... I should have gone quicker but it just wasn't there tonight". In addition to this medal winning performance Kindred also reached the finals of the 100 m breaststroke SB5 (finishing 4th), 200 m SM6 individual medley (finishing 6th) and 400 m freestyle S6 (finishing 6th). In April 2012 she qualified for 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 ...

in the S6 100m backstroke. In the final she finished second to collect the silver medal with a time of 1:26.23. On top of her success at the Paralympics, Kindred has won seven

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; ) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nin ...

World Championship medals and seven European Championship medals.

Personal life

Kindred's husband is fellow British Paralympic gold medal-winning swimmer

Sascha Kindred Sascha Kindred (born 13 December 1977 in Münster, Germany) is a British swimmer who has competed in six Summer Paralympic Games, winning thirteen medals. Early life Born in Germany, Kindred moved to Britain at the age of 3. He began swimming f ...

. Together the pair, who live in

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

, are known as the "golden couple" of British disability swimming. The couple's first child, Ella, was born in 2011. Kindred 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 2009 Birthday Honours for services to disability sport.

Notes

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kindred, Nyree 1980 births Living people Welsh female swimmers Paralympic swimmers for Great Britain Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain World record holders in paralympic swimming Members of the Order of the British Empire People from Rhondda Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics British female backstroke swimmers British female medley swimmers Welsh female freestyle swimmers British female freestyle swimmers British female breaststroke swimmers Cerebral palsy-category Paralympic competitors Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics S6-classified para swimmers Welsh Paralympic competitors Team Bath swimmers Team Bath Paralympic athletes Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Medalists at the World Para Swimming European Championships Paralympic medalists in swimming Sportspeople from Rhondda Cynon Taf

Early life

Paralympic career

Personal life

See also

Notes

External links