‘I don’t really keep track of my world records’
British para-swimmer Alice Tai tells Molly Mcelwee about her seven global bests
Aged 13, Paralympic swimmer Alice Tai was given a notebook by her father. It was ahead of the London 2012 swimming trials, her first major competition, and though she did not qualify then, she has diligently recorded her times and results in the book from every meet since.
Scrawled on the back page are the ambitions she wrote down as soon as she received it: “Win medals at the Paralympics and hold a British, European and world record.”
Every one of her wildest sporting dreams had been completed by the time she was 17. Not only did she make it to the Rio Games in 2016, she and her team also broke the 4x100metres medley relay 34 points world record. Now 20, she can boast a gold medal at the Paralympics, Commonwealth Games, and World and European Championships.
Such is Tai’s success that she takes a while to even remember how many world records she holds in total. Face screwed up in concentration, and about 15 seconds after I ask, she finally comes to an unsure answer.
“I’m going to say seven,” she says tentatively. “My mum would know. I don’t really keep track.”
She is correct. Tai, one of
The Telegraph’s ‘Tokyo Eight’ whose progress we are tracking in the build-up to next year’s Games, has racked up historymaking times almost at the same rate she used to surgeries. By the age of 12 she had already had 14 operations for club foot, a condition she was born with which affects mobility. But the Pooleborn swimmer says her disability has never held her back, as she was always integrated with able-bodied swimmers at her local club.
Her competitive success started in a major way with making the British World Championships team for 2015 and her Paralympic debut