Paralympian Applegate announces retirement

Double Paralympics gold medallist Jessica-Jane Applegate has announced her retirement from competitive swimming.

The 29-year-old from Norfolk won golds at London 2012 and the 2020 Games in Tokyo in an overall haul of seven Paralympic medals.

She also won 10 medals at the World Championships, including three golds, and five at the European Championships, but was not included in the Paralympics GB squad for the Paris Games last year.

In an Instagram post, she said: "After not being selected to be part of the GB team last year it has been difficult and accepting that chapter closing has been heartbreaking.

"The truth is, I'm still figuring out who I am outside of sport, and that's a scary place to be. But I'm taking things one day at a time and trusting that there is a new path ahead of me even if I can't quite see it yet.

"To everyone who has supported me over the years the coaches, teammates, friends, and all of you who have followed my journey. Thank you. Your belief in me has carried me through the highest highs and the toughest lows."

Applegate, who has Asperger's Syndrome, was only 16 when she won the 200m freestyle S14 final in London - a triumph that led to her being appointed an MBE.

But she has suffered injury and health problems during her career and needed surgery in 2016 after experiencing breathing problems for more than a year that she put down to asthma or a chest infection.

She bounced back to win two silvers and a bronze at the Rio de Janeiro Games in the same year.

Following her 4x100m gold in Tokyo in 2021, the Paralympics having been postponed for a year, she suffered serious back problems, including a torn disc, a couple of years later.

Applegate decided against surgery and won her third world 200m gold in Manchester, regaining the freestyle S14 title she had first won a decade earlier.

But after competing in the trials for Paris with a sprained ankle, she did not make the Great Britain team to compete in the French capital.

In her Instagram statement, Applegate said:, external "Since my Paralympic debut in 2012, I've had the honour of representing Great Britain on the world stage and achieving 44 international medals.

"Swimming has been my life for as long as I can remember, and competing for my country has been one of my greatest privileges."

She added: "This isn't the ending I imagined, but it's still a story I'm proud of."