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| Full name | Heather Frederiksen | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | British | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 30 December 1985 Billinge, Wigan, England[1] |
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| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 69 kg (150 lb; 10.9 st)[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | City of Salford[3] | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Heather Frederiksen (born 30 December 1985 in Billinge, England) is a British swimmer. She competed at the 2008 Paralympics where she won four medals.
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At the end of 2004 Frederiksen suffered a serious accident that left her with limited use of her right arm and leg, and the need to use a wheelchair. Her doctors told her she would never swim again, and when she tried she found herself swimming in circles.[3][4]
It was in 2006, whilst watching television coverage of the swimming events at the Commonwealth Games, in Melbourne, that Frederiksen decided she wanted to swim again. After her Paralympic success she said of the experience, "I saw Joanne Jackson win the gold in the 400 m and I just said to myself, 'I’m not ready to finish. I’ll finish when I want to finish, not when someone else tells me to’"—she had previously competed against Jackson.[3]
In 2004, prior to her accident, Frederiksen won both the British 10 km Open Water Championship and 4.5 km British Grand Prix on the same day.[3]
Frederiksen now competes in the S8 (backstroke and freestyle), SB7 (breaststroke) and SM8 (medley) classifications. Her first senior swim meet came at the 2007 German Open, in Berlin.[2][5]
In her first appearance at the British Championships in 2008 Frederiksen won two gold and two silver medals from her six events and set a number of national records.[2] At the 2008 Summer Paralympics, in Beijing, she competed in five events and won four medals.[6] Her first medal, a silver in the women's 100 m freestyle - S8 final on 8 September, was followed two days later by gold in the women's 100 m backstroke - S8 in a new IPC world record time of one minute 16.74 seconds.[7] A bronze medal was won by Frederiksen in the 200 m individual medley and her final medal of the games came with a silver in the 400 m freestyle. In her final event, the 50 m freestyle, she reached the final but finished in 7th position.[1] In all three races where Frederikson won silver or bronze medals it was American Jessica Long who won the gold medal.[8]
In addition to her 100 m backstroke world record Frederiksen is the current holder of the 50m freestyle world record, the 100m freestyle world record, the 200m freestyle world record and the 400m freestyle world record, European records in the 50m, 100m, 200m, 400 m freestyle, 100 m butterfly, 100m backstroke S8 classifications, and holds the British record in a total of six different events.[2]
Outside the pool, Heather is a qualified driving instructor.