David Roberts, one of Britain’s most successful Paralympians, was today left out of the swimming squad for this summer’s Games.
The 31-year-old won the S7 400m, 100m and 50m freestyle titles in Beijing and was part of the victorious relay squad to take his gold medal tally to 11. But he missed the British Trials last month due to pneumonia and then failed to reach the qualification times at the British International Disability Swimming Championships in Sheffield over Easter weekend.
Roberts could still have been given a discretionary place if performance director for disability John Atkinson believed he was capable of improving his times for the Paralympics.
But the Welshman has been omitted from the squad announced today. Among the 16 who have been chosen are Ellie Simmonds, who will have the opportunity to add to her two gold medals from Beijing. She won the 100m and 400m freestyle in the S6 disability class in 2008 and holds world titles in those two events in addition to the 50m distance and the 200m individual medley. The 17-year-old has made the Paralympic qualifying standard in all four events.
In addition to the chosen 16, a further 26 swimmers are waiting for confirmation of the slots made available by the International Paralympic Committee.
