Nyree Kindred
Welsh Paralympic swimmer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nyree Elise Kindred MBE (née Lewis; born 21 September 1980 in Rhondda, Wales)[2] is a Welsh swimmer who has competed in the Paralympic Games on four occasions winning ten medals.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nyree Elise Kindred | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Welsh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 21 September 1980 Rhondda, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Leominster Kingfisher[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Early life
Kindred took up swimming at the age of 5, having been taken to a swimming pool by her aunt.[3] Kindred has a form of cerebral palsy and therefore competes in the S6 (butterfly, backstroke, freestyle), SM6 (medley) and SB5 (breaststroke) classifications.[4][5]
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.[6]
At the 2004 Summer Paralympics Kindred won her first Paralympic gold medal in the S6 100 metres backstroke event,[7] in a new Paralympic record time of 1:32.03.[8] 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[9] and 200 m SM6 individual medley, and a bronze in the 400 m freestyle S6.[6]
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".[10] 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 in the S6 100m backstroke.[11] In the final she finished second to collect the silver medal with a time of 1:26.23.[12]
On top of her success at the Paralympics, Kindred has won seven International Paralympic Committee World Championship medals and seven European Championship medals.[1]
Personal life
Kindred's husband is fellow British Paralympic gold medal-winning swimmer Sascha Kindred. Together the pair, who live in Herefordshire,[13] are known as the "golden couple" of British disability swimming.[14][15] The couple's first child, Ella, was born in 2011.[16] Kindred was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours for services to disability sport.[17]