Nyree Kindred

Nyree Kindred
MBE

Personal information
Full name	Nyree Elise Kindred
Nationality	Welsh
Born	(1980-09-21) 21 September 1980 Rhondda, Wales
Height	1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Club	Leominster Kingfisher
Medal record Women's swimming Representing  Great Britain Paralympic Games 2004 Athens 100 m backstroke S6 2004 Athens 4×50 m medley 20 pts 2000 Sydney 100 m backstroke S6 2004 Athens 100 m breaststroke SB5 2004 Athens 200 m ind. medley SM6 2008 Beijing 100 m backstroke S6 2012 London 100 m backstroke S6 2000 Sydney 100 m breaststroke SB5 2000 Sydney 400 m freestyle S6 2000 Sydney 4×50 m medley 20 pts IPC World Championships 2002 Mar del Plata 100 m backstroke S6 2002 Mar del Plata 4x100 m medley relay 20pts 2006 Durban 100 m backstroke S6 2006 Durban 100 m breaststroke SB5 2002 Mar del Plata 100 m breaststroke SB5 2002 Mar del Plata 200 m medley SM6 2006 Durban 200 m medley SM6 2010 Eindhoven 4×50 m medley 20 pts IPC European Championships 2009 Reykjavik 100 m backstroke S6

Nyree Elise Kindred MBE (née Lewis; born 21 September 1980 in Rhondda, Wales) is a Welsh swimmer who has competed in the Paralympic Games on four occasions winning ten medals.

Early life

Kindred took up swimming at the age of 5, having been taken to a swimming pool by her aunt. Kindred has a form of cerebral palsy and therefore competes in the S6 (butterfly, backstroke, freestyle), SM6 (medley) and SB5 (breaststroke) classifications.

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.

At the 2004 Summer Paralympics Kindred won her first Paralympic gold medal in the S6 100 metres backstroke event, in a new Paralympic record time of 1:32.03. 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 and 200 m SM6 individual medley, and a bronze in the 400 m freestyle S6.

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". 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. In the final she finished second to collect the silver medal with a time of 1:26.23.

On top of her success at the Paralympics, Kindred has won seven International Paralympic Committee World Championship medals and seven European Championship medals.

Personal life

Kindred's husband is fellow British Paralympic gold medal-winning swimmer Sascha Kindred. Together the pair, who live in Herefordshire, are known as the "golden couple" of British disability swimming. The couple's first child, Ella, was born in 2011. Kindred was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours for services to disability sport.

See also

• List of Paralympic records in swimming
• Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Paralympics
• Swimming at the 2000 Summer Paralympics
• Swimming at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
• Swimming at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

External links

• The Golden Couple – a blog written by Sascha Kindred's brother detailing the progress of him and Lewis at the Wayback Machine (archived 2011-07-08)
• British Swimming athlete profile at the Wayback Machine (archived 2008-09-28)
• Nyree Kindred at the International Paralympic Committee