SWIMMER Sascha Kindred will be looking to add another chapter to his impressive international career when he competes at his fourth Paralympics in Beijing.
Kindred has enjoyed a prolific decade in the pool with four Paralympic, three World and eight European Championship gold medals to his name.
Starting tomorrow, he will be competing in the 200-metre individual medley, 100m breaststroke, 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle in the Chinese capital’s famous Water Cube.
The Hereford-based athlete made his Paralympic debut in Atlanta in 1996 but starred four years later in Sydney with two golds, a silver and bronze, breaking a Paralympic record in the 100m breaststroke and a world record in the 200m individual medley.
Kindred has won more than 350 medals at British championships and currently holds eight world records.
He will be joined in the Far East by his partner Nyree Lewis, 27, an equally successful swimmer with her eye on medal glory in Beijing.
The pair are known as the golden couple of disabled sport and have won 16 Paralympic medals between them.
Lewis, who won gold in the 100m backstroke in Athens on her 24th birthday, competes in the 200m individual medley, 100m backstroke, 100m breaststroke and 400m freestyle.
Set for her third Games, Lewis has won over 200 medals at British championships and broken 20 national records.
The Leominster Kingfisher Swimming Club star insists she won’t settle for anything less than a clean sweep.
“I want to retain the golds I won in Athens and take it from there,” she said. “I have three other events as well and I hope to do just as well in them too.
“Winning gold is the most important thing for me — it is why I put in the hard yards and it is the ultimate sporting achievement.
“I won my first gold in Athens in 2004 on my 24th birthday but I want to go faster this time in Beijing and do even better.”
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