By Elizabeth HudsonBBC Sport
31 January 2024
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption, Rogers is the current European record holder in the S10 100m butterfly
While the delayed Tokyo Paralympics took place in 2021, Faye Rogers was preparing to start university, months after competing at the Great Britain Olympic swimming trials as an 18-year-old.
Now she is aiming to make it to the Paris Paralympics – which only became a possibility after a life-changing moment that she was told would end her career in the pool.
Rogers was injured in a car accident on the day she was supposed to move to Aberdeen in September 2021.
It left the Stockton-on-Tees woman with several open fractures to her elbow, which was also dislocated, and a severed ulna nerve, all of which resulted in permanent damage to her arm.
“About three weeks after the accident, the consultant sat me down and I was told they could save my arm but I wouldn’t be able to compete again,” she told BBC Sport.
“Afterwards, I turned to my mum, who was at the consultation with me, and just said ‘Watch me’.
“I got back into the pool and just started kicking and then about four months later someone asked me if I had thought about Para-swimming and it took off from there.”
Rogers, who is studying biochemistry at the University of Aberdeen, has enjoyed a meteoric rise in the sport, winning gold in the S10 100m butterfly at last year’s Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester, as well as bronzes in the 400m freestyle and 200m individual medley.
The 21-year-old says that she is “excited” about what 2024 can bring and “really proud of how far I have come”.
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption, Rogers claimed one of Britain 14 golds at last year’s Worlds
Her 2024 programme will begin in earnest on Thursday when her home pool at the Aberdeen Sports Village hosts the opening leg of the World Series.
It comes before April’s British Championships at the London Aquatics Centre, which will be the trials for the Paralympics.
“There is something exciting about being able to swim at a high level in your home pool and it’s a big opportunity for those of us who are based here,” said Rogers.
“It’s also a chance for my friends and family to see me compete.
“I want to go faster than I did at the Worlds and break 65 seconds for my butterfly – that is my main aim. I’m just looking at it from a time perspective because swimming the fastest I can is all that I can do.”
This year’s Paralympics, which take place from 28 August until 8 September, are Rogers’ ultimate goal.
“To have won gold at the Worlds was insane. It is cool to look and think that it was less than two years since someone told me I wouldn’t be able to race again. I am really proud of how far I have come,” she said.
“This year might look and feel a bit different to what I had thought, but it doesn’t matter – I am still pretty much able to do what I want to do and the Paralympics presents a huge opportunity and I really want to go.”
Source link : https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/68127114.amp
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Publish date : 2024-01-31 08:00:00
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