A tale of two Ellies, inspiration, sacrifice and swimming gold
CHIEF REPORTER ELLIE ROBINSON was just 11 years old when her parents took her to the 2012 London Paralympics to watch Ellie Simmonds, the four-time gold medallist, in action.
The performance was an inspiration. Ellie Robinson, who suffers from the same condition as Simmonds – achondroplasia, a common cause of dwarfism – determined there and then to follow in her new idol’s footsteps.
On Friday night at the Paralympics in Rio, Ellie Robinson’s dream, born four years ago, came true.
To the increasingly frantic and disbelieving cheers and screams of her parents Hannah and Will, the 15-yearold schoolgirl from Northampton swam to glory, winning an unexpected gold medal in the S6 50m butterfly. “I still can’t believe it. I keep looking around to check they aren’t going to take it off me, it is so weird,” said the teenager. “I didn’t think it was possible and I don’t think it is possible now… I feel like I am going to wake up and it is a dream.”
Her astonishing and rapid rise was further underlined when she qualified faster than her hero Simmonds for the final of the 50m freestyle that was due to take place last night.
Yesterday, her father Will, 43, speaking from Rio, told how that trip to London had been the turning point. Mr Robinson said: “She knew all about Ellie [Simmonds] growing up because of the link with the dwarfism. Ellie showed her what could be done. She only had her first proper competition three years ago.”
Mr Robinson said he and his wife just lost all control as they realised their daughter was striking gold. “I have never got out of my seat before at a swimming gala,” said Mr Robinson, “It shows what it means. The emotions came out for once. I couldn’t help it.”
Robinson started taking swimming seriously after London 2012, but her path to Paralympian glory was not an easy one. Unlike a typical teenager, she has made sacrifices. She trains 15 hours a week. She is often in the pool by 5am before going off to study at Northampton High School for GCSEs which she will take in the summer.
She has also suffered from Perthes’ disease, a painful childhood hip disorder that forced her onto crutches for six months. “She is incredibly tough. She is crazy,” said Belinda Smith, her first coach at Northampton Swimming Club. “For six months she couldn’t swim because of Perthes’ disease. She was in a lot of pain. Even when she came back in about June 2013, she couldn’t dive, she couldn’t turn and she had to be helped into the water.”
The sacrifices have been worth it. “She can’t always do what a normal teenager does. But then she would not have done what she did yesterday if she was a normal teenager,” said her current coach Andy Sharpe, who is in Rio.
Ms Smith added: “She is a gifted athlete. She could have done any sport but she was so inspired by Ellie Simmonds that is why she only wanted to swim.”
The two Ellies first properly met at a swimming meeting in Glasgow in 2014. “Big Ellie” gave “Little Ellie”, as coach Smith calls her, her autograph.
Now Robinson is a star in her own right. Her school peers gathered in the hall to watch her swim, while her worldwide fame was cemented ahead of the final as she entered in a huge black jacket, too big for her 4ft frame, with Twitter users awarding her the title of “most gangster swimmer ever”.
Her proud father last night declared her the smiliest of teenagers, who had simply been focused on the race ahead and had been concentrating hard. The oversized jacket was not a deliberate fashion statement, he added.
“Ellie is so small, the official kit didn’t include a jacket small enough. It kind of shrouded her,” he said.