Ellie Simmonds goes into London as a household name and one of the highest-profile Paralympic athletes.
Swimmer excited and looking forward to London
Swansea-based swimmer Ellie Simmonds goes into London as a household name and one of the highest-profile Paralympic athletes.
Aged just 13 in Beijing she was catapulted into the public consciousness with her two gold medals and tears on the podium.
In the intervening four years, Simmonds has won seven medals, four of them gold, at the 2010 IPC World Championships as well as five titles at the European Championships in 2009 and four medals at the same event last year of which two were gold.
Swimming in the S6 category, the Walsall-born athlete admits her success in China has heaped more expectation upon her but she insists it has not been too cumbersome to bear.
"There has been a bit of pressure, but I am able to cope with it and take it in my stride," said Simmons. "I am going to London hoping to swim the best I can and not think about everything like that.
"It is great to have it, it drives me forward, but you have got to do it for yourself. I am looking forward to going to London and enjoying it and the experience."
For Simmonds, Beijing was life-changing and she had to adapt to being thrust into the spotlight at such a young age.
Refocus
She had to learn to refocus on her sport and admits London has come around very quickly.
She said: "Getting those two gold medals in Beijing was very unexpected.
"After that I got so much presence and there was a whirlwind of things to do, but afterwards it calmed down a bit.
"I had to get back into swimming, like we had our World Championships and European Championships.
"We had all of that to do so we had to focus on that, but now it is scary that we have London.
"After Beijing, it was like London's four years away and now it is here it is scary but exciting."
Simmonds was the first swimmer to break a world record at the Aquatics Centre when she lowered the S6 200m individual medley mark in March when the Paralympic swimmers held their first set of trials alongside the athletes targeting the Olympics.
Publicity
Her achievement was widely reported in the press with Simmonds believing Paralympic sport to have greater representation in the media these days.
"Yes, definitely. After Beijing we got a lot of publicity and now leading into London there is a lot of publicity.
"I think it is really good because I remember watching Athens 2004 and getting inspired by watching Nyree Lewis get her gold medal.
"Hopefully disability people or normal people will get inspired, get into sport or achieve something in their life."
As for her own ambitions in London, Simmonds insists she is not solely driven by making the podium.
She said: "I am going into the Games very excited but quite nervous as well. I think it is good to have nerves, it drives you forward.
"The biggest disappointment for me is if I don't swim the best I can. My aim in London is not medals.
"Medals would be lovely but I just want to go there and swim my best and hope that is good enough. I know there is going to be stiff competition but it will be exciting."
