Paralympic champion Johnson retires from swimming

“Sport has taught me many life lessons and transferable skills, two of the most important being that ‘timing is everything’ and ‘everything happens for a reason.”

Paralympic gold medallist Liz Johnson has announced her retirement from competitive swimming after a career in the pool spanning two decades.

The British swimmer has won a medal at three consecutive Paralympic Games, having made her debut in Athens in 2004.

Johnson won gold in the 100m breaststroke SB6 in the Beijing Paralympic Games in 2008. Liz was also the first female in the SB6 category to break the 100 seconds barrier for the event.

At London 2012, Johnson recorded a season's best time of 1:40.90 to take the bronze medal in the 100m backstroke S6.

Johnson said: “Sport has taught me many life lessons and transferable skills, two of the most important being that ‘timing is everything’ and ‘everything happens for a reason.’ It is with these at the forefront of my mind that I make this announcement today.

“In December, I underwent surgery for a hernia repair and unfortunately I ended up being out of training for longer than I had envisaged which resulted in me missing a large portion of the crucial winter workload.

“Since recovering, my team and I have been trying to play catch up but we know my body and we know where I need to be and unfortunately the trials have simply come too soon.

“Whilst this presents a big change in my life and the direction that this year will take for me, I can’t be sad. I’ve been extremely privileged to be able to do something that I love and compete at the highest level for almost 20 years.”

British Para-Swimming National Performance Director Chris Furber said: “On behalf of everyone at British Swimming we wish Liz luck in her future plans.

“She has had a great career that has seen her stand at the very top of our sport and I know she will continue to be an ambassador for para-Swimming.”

Johnson will be part of the commentary team for British broadcaster Channel 4’s live coverage of the 2016 IPC Swimming European Open Championships in Funchal, Portugal, between 30 April – 1 May.

Live coverage will also be available at the Funchal2016.com website in other countries.