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
Freestyle may refer to:
Brands
* Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe
* Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile
* Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine
* Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott Laboritories
Media
* '' FreeStyle'', ...
), SM6 (
medley
Medley or Medleys may refer to:
Sports
*Medley swimming, races requiring multiple swimming styles
* Medley relay races at track meets
Music
*Medley (music), multiple pieces strung together
People
*Medley (surname), list of people with this nam ...
) 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
The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China, from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...
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
The Queen's Birthday Honours 2009 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as ...
for services to disability sport.
See also
*
List of Paralympic records in swimming
The International Paralympic Committee recognises the fastest performances in swimming events at the Paralympic Games. Swimming has been part of at every Summer Paralympic Games.
Races are held in four swimming strokes: freestyle, backstroke, bre ...
*
Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Paralympics
Great Britain competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Great Britain sent a delegation of around 400, of which 212 were athletes, to compete in eighteen sports at the Games. The team was made up of athletes ...
*
Swimming at the 2000 Summer Paralympics
Swimming (sport), Swimming at the 2000 Summer Paralympics comprised a total of 169 events, 91 for men and 78 for women. Swimmers were classified according to the extent and type of their disability.
Medal summary Medal table
Participati ...
*
Swimming at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Swimming at the 2004 Summer Paralympics, in the Olympic Aquatic Centre was competed in freestyle, backstroke and butterfly (classes Sn), the breaststroke (classes SBn) and individual medley (classes SMn).
*Swimmers with a physical disability ...
*
Swimming at the 2008 Summer Paralympics
The Swimming (sport), swimming events of the 2008 Summer Paralympics were held in the Beijing National Aquatics Center between September 7 and September 15, 2008. A total of 140 gold medals were expected to be distributed. Paralympic records wer ...
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