Celebrating Paralympic Success

Twins Eliza and Scarlett Humphrey are visually impaired athletes who competed in swimming events at the Paralympic Games in Paris this year. Community have been delighted to support these two amazing young women, are extremely proud of their achievements at the Paralympics and we congratulate them on a job well done! 

Eliza competed in the 400m freestyle and the 200m individual medley, where she secured a personal best time.  

Scarlett competed in the 50m and 400m freestyle, the 100m breaststroke and the 200m individual event. She was also part of a mixed 4 x100m freestyle swimming relay team and narrowly missed a medal on Day 7 of the games and she achieved a British Record of 4:04.12! 

Community spoke to Eliza and Scarlett before they travelled to Paris to compete, and we asked them what it felt like to be selected for the Paralympics and what they were most looking forward to doing when they got there. They told us:   

“Finding out that we had been selected for the Paralympic Games in Paris was a very special moment. Being able to represent Paralympics GB at the biggest competition in the world is a truly unbelievable honor. 

“It’s going to be very exciting to race other visually impaired athletes from around the world, as we currently don’t have many completely blind swimmers in the UK, so we have to look overseas for direct competition. For both of us to be selected is very special, as we have gone through our swimming journeys together in training and competition.  

“The Olympic and Paralympic Village will also be a new and exciting experience as there will be thousands of athletes from many different sports, and it will be our first time taking part in a multi-sport competition. Potentially racing against each other will also be very fun, as we are both very competitive!”  

At just 19 years old, Eliza and Scarlett have the same level of visual impairment, which falls in the 3% of visually impaired people in the UK who have no vision at all. Their swimming journey started when their parents, Neil, and Sharon, wanted them to be safe around water and enrolled them in ‘learn to swim’ lessons at their local pool. When these group lessons posed a significant challenge for the twins due to a lack of awareness about visual impairments, their parents were undeterred and arranged for them to have one to one coaching where the twins gained an aptitude and love for swimming.  

Then in 2015 when Eliza and Scarlett attended the British Blind Sport’s youth swimming gala, they heard about Northampton’s Swimming Club, which is where the twins found the right support to enable them to improve their technique and fitness levels and then they really started to progress, and the rest will go down in history. Today Scarlett and Eliza hold 17 British swimming records for visually impaired people and have competed in the 2024 Paralympics.  

On their return home we asked Eliza and Scarlett what it was like competing in the Paralympics and they told us: 

“Paris was an incredible experience with so many great memories. The atmosphere was amazing, with the crowd supporting every athlete. Having support from those in the arena and at home meant so much to us.”

“To qualify for the finals in all of our events was a huge achievement, and something we are very proud of. Being able to race alongside Paralympic medalists and world record holders, many of whom we have looked up to as role models, shows how far we have come.”

“We are now looking forward to resting and recharging, before the next season begins, looking forward to the journey ahead of us and having more amazing opportunities like this.”

We know this is just the start for these exceptional women and we look forward to following your journeys in the future.  

You can follow Eliza and Scarlett on their journey on… 

Eliza Twitter – @ElizaH_swim  

Scarlett Twitter – @ScarlettH_swim 

Joint Instagram – @humphrey_sisters 

Inequality in Sports 

This year the Paralympics proved just how important it is that sports are accessible for disabled children in the UK and ParalympicsGB have been raising the issue of barriers to sports for disabled children, urging the Labour Government to ensure that “every child has the same access to physical education” as currently only a quarter of the 1.5 million disabled children in the UK are regularly taking part in physical education (P.E.) at school.  

A new strategy known as “equal play” was discussed with the Prime Minister last week and ParalympicsGB CEO David Clarke quoted “Sport and PE (Physical Education) at school needs to be a statutory right for all children and the people delivering it need to have the support, education and training to deliver it inclusively.”  

As we watched the closing ceremony of the Paralympics, we send our congratulations to the talented GB team who came away with an incredible 129 medals, including 49 gold medals! 

If you are a member of Community and need advice or support, please contact our Service Centre at help@community-tu.org or on 0800 389 6332.