Swimmer Poppy Maskill told her coach ‘I want to go to the Olympics’ at age 11

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Paralympic gold medallist Poppy Maskill told her former coach at age 11 “I want to go to the Olympics”, he has said.

Maskill, 19, delivered Great Britain’s first Paralympic gold of Paris 2024 on Thursday and set a new world record of one minute and three seconds to claim the women’s 100m butterfly S14 title.

Philip Balcombe, 62, met Maskill when she was 10 years old while he was head coach of Centurions swimming club in Northwich, Cheshire, and went on to coach the swimmer through her first regional, national and international medal wins.

On the first time he saw her, he said: “I noticed this little kid and her two sisters swimming up and down in the public lane, next to my swimmers, and this one girl was doing everything that my swimmers were doing.”

He continued: “A lot of people will tell you that you can spot talent young – I don’t always think so.

“You can spot swimmers with the right attitude and she had the right attitude.

“At age 11, we used to take a break in land training and I used to go around the room and ask the swimmers why they swam, and you get the normal answers like ‘my parents bring me here and tell me to swim’.

“And then all of a sudden, this little 11-year-old at the back of the room went ‘I want to go to the Olympics.’”

Mr Balcombe, who coached Maskill from the age of 10 until she was 18, praised her dedication and said he could “probably count less than 10 times” she missed a training session in nine years.

“During lockdown, she was so desperate to carry on training and we weren’t allowed to be anywhere near the swimming pool for nine months so her parents got a swimming pool in the garden.

“I used to give her training routines and watch her on the video and try and correct things.

“I must say, it didn’t work out brilliantly.”

Mr Balcombe said he had coached thousands of swimmers throughout his career but “always had to try and run to keep one step ahead” of Maskill and it was a “pleasure” working with her.

“She takes everything in her stride,” he added, “The only time I’ve ever seen her look nervous was when she walked out at the Commonwealth Games for the final and 6,000 British fans started screaming her name.”

Mr Balcombe, who was unable to get tickets to the Paris games, watched Maskill’s race at home with his family and said he was “jumping up and down and cheering”.

When asked how he felt as he saw Maskill claim the gold, he said: “It’s very difficult to describe, an incredible sense of pride and I do feel like I’ve swum every length, every stroke of that race with her – I think I was far more nervous than she is.”

The coach paid tribute to Maskill’s family who drove her to and from training, and to other coaches who have supported her throughout her swimming career.

“There are a lot of people who go into making a swimmer who they are, who don’t always get recognition,” he added.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer congratulated Maskill on her triumph in a post on X.

He wrote: “Our first @ParalympicsGB gold and it’s a World Record.

“Congratulations Poppy, what a fantastic achievement.”

Asked how she was feeling about her win, Maskill said: “Unreal. Weird. I was just hoping that I swam as hard as I could, and see what happens.

“It feels so weird to be the first gold medallist for ParalympicsGB.”