Kindred seeks further Paralympic swimming glory

“I have been training very hard and hope to come away from the Paralympics with personal bests in my events.”

Great Britain’s Six-time Paralympic gold medallist Sascha Kindred has spoken of his aims for another top performance with 100 days to go until the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

During a glittering career, the swimmer has so far won six gold, three silver and three bronze medals over five Paralympic Games between 1996 and 2012.

The 38-year-old knows that if he achieves personal bests in Rio, he will have good chances of adding more medals to his crammed trophy cabinet.

“My goal is to perform to the best of my ability,” said Kindred, who won one gold at last year’s IPC Swimming World Championships.

“I have been training very hard and hope to come away from the Paralympics with personal bests in my events.

“I am looking forward to racing in Rio, but also to enjoying the atmosphere and the Paralympic village environment, as well as supporting my teammates.

“I believe Rio 2016 is going to be awesome. Brazil is well-known for its carnivals and I am sure the competitions will be serious, but followed by a Rio style party.”

Among his toughest rivals, Kindred will face Brazil’s 200m backstroke S6 world record holder Talisson Glock, Colombia’s 100m freestyle S6 world champion Nelson Crispin and China’s 50m freestyle S6 Paralympic gold medallist Qing Xu.

“I will face very tight races,” he said.

Even after winning multiple titles, Kindred said he still feels motivated to achieve greater things.

“I love racing and try to push my body through boundaries and get quicker with age,” he said.

Kindred does not have doubts when it comes to mentioning the titles he remembers the most.

“The gold medal I won in the 100m individual medley S6 at Sydney 2000 because it was my first Paralympic title,” he said.

“Also the world title I achieved in the same event in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 2002, when I broke the world record by seven seconds and was voted the world’s male swimmer of the year.

“The London 2012 Paralympic Games, where I won two silver medals, was amazing as well. Walking into the swimming pool whilst having the majority of the 17,000 fans cheering for you was out of this world.”

Since he competed at Atlanta 1996, Kindred believes the Paralympics have significantly grown.

“Stadiums are fuller, there is more media coverage, more awareness and more sponsors,” he said.

“The public respect more what it takes to be a Paralympian. In Atlanta, I felt the Games were amateur, whilst now the Games have professionalised, with a high competitive level across the different classification groups.”

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Sport fans from around the world can now buy their Paralympic tickets for Rio 2016 from authorised ticket resellers (ATRs)

The IPC’s Global ATR is Jet Set Sports, and Rio 2016 tickets and packages can be purchased on the CoSport website.

Residents of Brazil can buy 2016 Paralympics tickets directly from the Rio 2016 website.