Michael "Mikey" Jones MBE (born 10 June 1994) is a British Paralympic swimmer classified as a S7 competitor for swimmers with physical disabilities. Jones competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in the 50 metre freestyle, 100 metre freestyle, and won gold in the 400 metre freestyle. He is coached by Mark Rose.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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| Nationality | British | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 10 June 1994 | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle | ||||||||||||||
| Classifications | S7 | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Early life
editMichael Jones was born in Poole on 10 June 1994 with spastic diplegia, a type of cerebral palsy that primarily affects his legs.[1][2] Jones began swimming at age 10, was a member of the New Milton Seagulls swimming club, and attended Mount Kelly School on a swimming scholarship. He attended Ballard School in New Milton, Hampshire before studying at Loughborough University.[3]
Swimming career
editAfter competing in the trials for the 2012 Summer Paralympics, Jones underwent three major surgeries and broke his leg that year.[2][3]
In preparation for the 2016 Summer Paralympics, Jones began training at the Para-Swimming National Performance Centre in Manchester in September 2015.[3][4] Despite pulling out of the IPC Swimming European Championships earlier that year due to injury,[3] he competed in Rio de Janeiro in the 50 metre freestyle, 100 metre freestyle, and won gold in the 400 metre freestyle with a time of 4:45.78.[1][5] Jones swam in the 2018 World Para Swimming European Championships, winning gold in the 400 metre freestyle. He is coached by Mark Rose.
He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to swimming.[6]
References
edit- ^ a b "Michael Jones". British Swimming. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
- ^ a b Hughes, Sam (8 September 2016). "Former Mount Kelly student taking to world stage competing in Rio Paralympics". Okehampton Times. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
- ^ a b c d "Hampshire swimmer Mikey Jones inspired by locks of father's hair in Rio". Southern Daily Echo. 16 September 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
- ^ "Michael Jones". British Paralympic Association. 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
- ^ "Men's 400m Freestyle - S7 Final". Rio 2016. 14 September 2016. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
- ^ "Olympic and Paralympic heroes celebrated in 2017 New Year's Honours List". UK Sport. 30 December 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2018.