Tai victory caps Saturday gold rush for swimmers

Alice Tai had to relearn how to swim after choosing to have her right leg amputated but now she is a Paralympic champion.

- MILLY MCEVOY

The 25-year-old elected to amputate her leg below the knee to relieve her of pain only two years ago.

In Paris, she stormed to women’s S8 100 metre backstroke gold in a Paralympic record time of 1:09.06, 5.91 seconds quicker than the rest of the competition.

“The last three years has been crazy, I’ve had six surgeries on three different limbs over the course of two and a half years,” she said.

“A lot has happened in my personal life. Just being here, I feel that I’ve made myself proud and everyone supporting me proud. A lot of people know that it has not been the easiest few years so to come here and swim a time that I’m really happy just means so much and for that to get me my first individual gold at the Paralympics is super special.”

Tai detailed how her amputation has led to two years of work on her stroke and she trialled a new backstroke start only five days ago. It shows that even as she adds a first individual Paralympic title to relay gold and individual bronze won in Rio, she can get even better.

The issues in her personal life in the build-up to the Games in Paris included illness for her grandmother, while her grandfather passed away earlier this year.