Bethany Firth
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality |
Irish British | ||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 14 February 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Residence | Seaforde, County Down, Northern Ireland | ||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 172.7 cm (5 ft 8 in) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Ards Swim Club | ||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Bethany Firth (born 14 February 1996) is a Northern Irish paralympic swimmer competing for Great Britain as of 2014; previously Firth had competed, and won a gold medal, for Ireland at the 2012 Summer Paralympics. Firth was born in Seaforde, County Down and competes in the S14 classification.
On August 31, 2012 Firth, competing for Ireland in her first Paralympics, won a gold medal at the 2012 Paralympic games in London in the S14 100 metres backstroke final while representing Ireland.[1] [2] Firth, who has learning difficulties, had been swimming for only three years.
Firth won three silver medals at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships.[3]
Later in the same year she announced her intention to switch national team and swim for Team GB instead of Ireland after serving a period out of competition.[4]
The 19-year-old from Seaforde, Co Down, set a new world record on 26th March 2015 during qualifying for the IPC World Championships.
Firth set a time of one minute 14.40 seconds in the 100m breaststroke, 1.43 seconds inside the previous record, and her memorable day was complete when she claimed a gold medal.
The London 2012 gold medallist and World Championship silver medallist, who has learning disabilities, is now competing for Great Britain, having represented Paralympics Ireland.
Firth, who has problems with her short-term memory, also competes in 100m backstroke and 100m freestyle. She won S14 100m backstroke gold for Ireland at the Paralympics in 2012. Firth was named Belfast Telegraph Young Player of the Year and Belfast Telegraph Woman of the Year in Sport.
Her first major international will be July's IPC World Championships. Firth has joined a GB set-up which also includes fellow S14s in Paralympic champion Jessica Jane Applegate, European bronze medallists Chloe Davies and Nicole Lough as well as Commonwealth Games silver medallist Thomas Hamer.[5]
See also
- Ireland at the 2012 Summer Paralympics
- 2012 Olympics gold post boxes in the United Kingdom
References
- ↑ "NI's golden girl Bethany Firth 'over the moon' with Paralympic gold". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
- ↑ "Bethany Firth". www.london2012.com. Retrieved 1 September 2012.
- ↑ "Third silver for Firth at IPC World Championships in Montreal". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
- ↑ "BBC Sport - Bethany Firth: Swimmer switches from Ireland to Great Britain". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
- ↑ http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/swimming/golden-girl-bethany-firth-is-on-top-of-the-world-31098352.html''. Missing or empty
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