| Nyree Kindred | |
| Fullname: | Nyree Elise Kindred |
| Nationality: | Welsh |
| Club: | Leominster Kingfisher |
| Birth Date: | 1980 9, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Rhondda, Wales |
| Height: | 1.60 m |
Nyree Elise Kindred MBE (née Lewis; born 21 September 1980 in Rhondda, Wales)[1] is a Welsh swimmer who has competed in the Paralympic Games on four occasions winning ten medals.
Kindred took up swimming at the age of 5, having been taken to a swimming pool by her aunt.[2] Kindred has a form of cerebral palsy and therefore competes in the S6 (butterfly, backstroke, freestyle), SM6 (medley) and SB5 (breaststroke) classifications.[3] [4]
Kindred's first appearance at a Paralympics came at the 2000 Games in Sydney, where she won 3 medals, 2 silver and a bronze.[5]
At the 2004 Summer Paralympics Kindred won her first Paralympic gold medal in the S6 100 metres backstroke event,[6] in a new Paralympic record time of 1:32.03.[7] She followed this up with another gold in the 4×50 m medley 20 pts relay, silver medals in both the 100 m breaststroke SB5[8] and 200 m SM6 individual medley, and a bronze in the 400 m freestyle S6.[5]
In the 100 metres S6 backstroke at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing Kindred was beaten into second place by Dutch swimmer Mirjam de Koning-Peper. Kindred explained her defeat by saying "My legs were spasming, but to be honest, there are no excuses for that, ... I should have gone quicker but it just wasn't there tonight".[9] In addition to this medal winning performance Kindred also reached the finals of the 100 m breaststroke SB5 (finishing 4th), 200 m SM6 individual medley (finishing 6th) and 400 m freestyle S6 (finishing 6th). In April 2012 she qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympics in the S6 100m backstroke.[10] In the final she finished second to collect the silver medal with a time of 1:26.23.[11]
On top of her success at the Paralympics, Kindred has won seven International Paralympic Committee World Championship medals and seven European Championship medals.[12]
Kindred's husband is fellow British Paralympic gold medal-winning swimmer Sascha Kindred. Together the pair, who live in Herefordshire,[13] are known as the "golden couple" of British disability swimming.[14] [15] The couple's first child, Ella, was born in 2011.[16] Kindred was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours for services to disability sport.