The Para swimmer left Paris with a gold medal in her first ever Paralympic games, three years after her accident.
By Bethany Lee
21-year-old Faye Rogers can now call herself a Paralympic champion after winning gold at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games (28 August – 8 September).
The University of Aberdeen student had her crowing moment in the women’s 100m Butterfly S10. The race was incredibly tight, with Faye swimming beside ParalympicsGB teammate Callie-Ann Warrington.
The pair were neck-and-neck until Faye pushed into the lead, grabbing the gold with a time of 1:05.84, a slender 0.57 seconds ahead of her teammate.
The thrilling conclusion to the intense race left Faye in shock. Looking back on her golden moment, she said: “You know when you see people celebrating in the pool, I didn’t. I knew I’d won, but it didn’t sink in, and then I got out of the pool and I was like woah I’ve just won, it kind of hit me late.”
When asked how it felt to win, she added: “To be honest there was a lot of relief in there, I was quite nervous going into it. I think the best feeling was being on the podium. I could see my family and I was trying really hard not to just look at my mum and cry. I honestly can’t put into words how amazing that feeling is.”
As well as winning gold, Faye made it to two other Paralympic finals, finishing 5th in both the women’s 200m Individual Medley SM10 with a time of 2:33.90 and the women’s 400m Freestyle S10 with a time of 4:41.50.
She also competed in the women’s 100m Freestyle S10, finishing second in the swim-offs by just 0.06 seconds.
Looking back as the Games came to a close, Faye said: “This week has just been crazy, it’s still not sunk in yet. It’s just been the most surreal week.”
The University of Aberdeen student had already drawn attention after her international debut at the 2023 World Championships, taking home three medals including a gold in the 100m Butterfly S10. She was also named Para Swimming Emerging Athlete of the Year in 2023 by British Swimming.
The star swimmer has been competing since the age of nine and took part in the Olympic trails in 2021 in London. Shortly after, she was involved in a car accident and told she’d never race competitively again.
Now, she is a world champion, a European record holder and, almost exactly three years after her accident, a Paralympic gold medallist.
Going forward, Faye hopes to compete for Scotland in the 2026 Commonwealth Games, which will be on home soil (or water!). Faye was born in Durham but trains and is based in Aberdeen where she is studying biochemistry with the hopes of becoming a doctor.
In case you missed any of the Paris 2024 Paralympic action, you can find all the daily reviews and highlights on the SDS website, here.
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