More gold for Sascha

After being presented with his OBE at Buckingham Palace, six-time Paralympic gold medallist Sascha Kindred talks to Paul Carter about meeting The Queen, Beijing’s legacy and the future of Paralympic swimming in Great Britain

Four-time Paralympian Sascha Kindred knows all about winning medals. In a career spanning 15 years, and still going strong, the swimmer from Herefordshire has picked up 12 Paralympic medals, six of them gold, alongside a host of other titles and awards.

Last month, he attended Buckingham Palace for an audience with The Queen to be presented with a gold medal of a different kind to those he has claimed in the pool.

Kindred was awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours list, and was at the palace with his mum Beatrice, brother Timo and fiancée Nyree Lewis, also a Paralympic swimmer, to be invested.

It came just three weeks after Kindred visited Buckingham Palace along with the rest of the Paralympic squad for a reception to celebrate their Beijing success.

“It shows that our achievements are on a level par with Olympic athletes,” says Kindred.

“It was really nice for us to go and meet the Royal Family and for them to show their appreciation for us representing them and the country as a whole in the Paralympics.

“For the athletes it shows that we’ve done a great ser­vice. I feel really honoured.”

Kindred feels that recognition at the very top level demonstrates how attitudes towards Paralympic sport have changed since the early days of his career, both in the greater emphasis placed on the Paralympics, and on the perception of Paralympic sport by both the general public and in the mainstream media.

“Beijing was my fourth games. At my first in Atlanta, the Paralympics were held well after the Olympics, and they were taking down everything and demolishing it while we were still there and still competing. Even though it was my first games, it was the worst, though it was the best thing in the world at the time.

“We train just as hard as Olympic athletes if not more so, as we have disabilities to overcome, and the media coverage we’re getting is helping because it shows that.”

Beijing marked a hugely successful Games both for Kindred personally, who successfully defended his two titles, and for the swimming squad as a whole, picking up 41 medals.

However, he is confident that such a benchmark of success does not necessarily represent a peak for Great Britain’s swimmers, and that the squad has enough depth of young talent to continue challenging at the highest level.

“You just have to look at Ellie Simmonds – it shows that there is the talent out there,” he says.

“I think 50 or 60 per cent of the swimming team in Beijing were debutants so it shows that we have got the talent. British swimming has good talent programmes too like Talent ID, and there are coaches going around the country looking for younger athletes who can get involved.”

But what of his own future? Now one of the more senior members of the GB team, Kindred says that he is looking to use his own experience to further the cause of British swimming.

“In the seven months since being back from Beijing I’ve been trying to go to schools to promote what we do and what the Paralympics are about.

“With swimming galas and competitions which maybe I don’t have to go to because of the level I’m at, I’m still competing in them because maybe I can inspire others, and I feel like I’m in a position where I can give something back.

“In terms of competing, I’ve got another World Championships in 2010 after which I will re-evaluate then and see where I am in the world and how the selectors feel what level I’m at. At the moment in my mind I can go faster, and I’m aiming to compete in London [in 2012].”