David Roberts

His achievements put him in 34th place on the all time list of Paralympic Gold Medallists

Roberts went to Llwyncrwn Primary School and moved on to Bryn Celynnog Comprehensive School.

He currently lives in Cardiff.

He is a professional disabled swimmer who represents Caerphilly County Swim Squad, Wales and Great Britain.

He previously trained at the Swansea High Performance Centre at the Wales National Pool in Swansea but now trains with Caerphilly County Swim Squad with his new coach Peter Key.

He was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age eleven and was encouraged to participate in swimming activities as a form of physical therapy.

His International Paralympic Committee (IPC) swimming category is S7 SB7 SM7.

David Evan Roberts CBE (born 25 May 1980), is a Welsh swimmer.

An eleven-time Paralympic gold medallist, he is one of Great Britain's most successful Paralympians ever.

His first represented Wales in competition in Glasgow in 1993.

His first major competition for Great Britain was at the 1999 European Disabled swimming Championships in Braunschweig, Germany where he won all four of his races.

He competed in his first Paralympic Games in Sydney in the summer of 2000.

Here he won an impressive haul of seven medals.

His achievements at the 2000 and 2004 Paralympics, alongside his previous successes for Great Britain, earned David an MBE for his services to disabled sport in the Queen's New Years Honours.

At the 2001 European Disabled Swimming Championships in Stockholm, Sweden, David won five gold medals including a clean sweep of the S7 50 m, 100 m and 400 m freestyle events.

The Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games saw Elite Athletes with Disabilities (EAD) competing alongside able-bodied athletes at a major competition for the first time.

David was the only disabled swimmer from Great Britain to win a medal, taking the bronze in the men's multi disability 100 m freestyle.

Roberts won his first IPC World Swimming Championship medals in Mar Del Plata, Argentina in December 2002.

He won three gold medals, one silver and one bronze.

His second experience of Paralympic action came at the Athens 2004 Summer Paralympics.

Here David won four golds and one silver.

His medals came in the following events:

He also made it onto the shortlist of the 2004 BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year Award which was won by Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson.

He received his award from the Queen at Buckingham Palace in March 2005.

David retained his Commonwealth Games men's multi disability 100 m freestyle bronze medal at the 2006 event held in Melbourne, Australia.

At the 2006 IPC World Swimming Championships, held in Durban, South Africa, he won four gold, 1 silver and a bronze.

Included in the medal haul was another clean sweep in the S7 freestyle events.

The first half of 2008 saw David set new world records for the S7 50 m, 100 m, 200 m and 400 m freestyle events in the space of six weeks.

He retained his S7 50 m freestyle World record off Great Britain rival Matthew Walker in April at the British Swimming Championships in Sheffield setting a new time of 27.67.

At the same event he lowered his S7 100 m freestyle world record to a new time of 1:00.34.

He set a new S7 200 m world record of 2:18.86 at the German Open Championships in May 2008.

For the first time in his career he finally took the S7 400 m freestyle world record, which had been held by Dean Booth from New Zealand for eight years previously, at the British International Swimming Championships held in Sheffield in April, recording a time of 4:49.12.

He achieved selection for his third consecutive Paralympics in May 2008 by being named as part of the squad to attend the Beijing Paralympics.

He won four gold medals at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games taking the S7 50 m, 100 m and 400 m freestyle events and was part of the gold medal-winning Great Britain 34 point 4×100 m freestyle relay team that broke the world record by seven seconds.

Other members of the team were Graham Edmunds, Robert Welbourn and Matthew Walker.

After winning four golds in the Beijing 2008 Paralympics, David was selected to carry out the British flag at the closing ceremony.

He appeared as a guest on an episode of the popular British TV sports quiz Question of Sport which aired on Friday 24 October 2008 on BBC One.

To show support for his, at the time, coach Billy Pye, who supports Cardiff City Roberts performed The Ayatollah in front of the Western Mail reporters to celebrate winning his 11th gold medal.

David is a keen supporter of Wrexham FC and regularly attends games as a supporter of Welsh rugby team, Bridgend Ravens.

In winning this 11th gold, David Roberts equalled Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson's record as being Wales and Britain's most successful Paralympian.