David Roberts

An 11-time Paralympic gold medallist, David Roberts is one of Britain’s most successful Paralympians of all-time. He also won four silvers and a bronze and has held a handful of world records in the S7 class. He took up swimming after being diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was 11 and made his international debut for Wales in Glasgow at the age of 13.

His major championship debut or Britain came at the 1999 European Disabled Swimming Championships in Braunschweig, Germany, where he won all four of his races. His first Paralympic Games were in Sydney in 2000, where he won seven medals. For years later in Athens he added four golds and one silver to his collection. In Beijing in 2008 he won gold in the S7 50, 100 and 400 metres freestyle events and was part of the gold medal winning British 34 point 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay team that broke the world record by seven seconds. Illness forced him to fail to get selected for the 2012 Games in London.

He picked up a bronze medal for Wales at the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth and enjoyed similar success at the IPC World Championships as he did at the Paralympics. Across the 2002, 2006 and 2010 events in Mar de Plata, Durban and Eindoven he won eight gold, three silver and four bronze medals. He had his OBE upgraded to a CBE in 2009.

David Evan Roberts (Para Swimmer) Born in Llantwit Fardre on 25 May, 1980