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ROBERTS AIMS TO THRASH THE REST

David Roberts

Friday May 4,2007

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He grew up in Church Village and sleeps in a converted convent but there is something unholy about the competitive streak within David Roberts.

At 26, he is already the most decorated disabled swimmer, with a stash of gold to rival Fort Knox. Seven Olympic golds, four world titles and four world records is not bad for a lad from the Rhondda valleys who was picked on at school for his cerebral palsy.

Yet not even that staggering haul is enough to quench the hunger inside Roberts, who is driven every day by one single overpowering aim, surpassing Tanni Grey-Thompson’s record of 11 Olympic golds at Beijing next year to become the greatest paralympian of all time.

“I know I’m greedy but that’s what drives me every time I turn up for training, not just being the best in Wales or the UK, but the best ever,” said Roberts, who swims a marathon 26 miles every week. “That’s how I want to be remembered and I’m not even close to what I want to achieve. Tanni is a legend but I’ve already won seven golds and even she admits I’m the only person likely to beat her record. I also want to be the first person with cerebral palsy to swim under a minute for the 100 metres. I’d retire if I did that.”

Roberts was born with the condition that affects the limbs but has always reached for the stars even in the unprivileged surroundings of the Rhondda.

Yet it was that hard upbringing in Church Village that made him the fierce competitor he is today. “I went to a tough school in a hard-working area where you learned to look after yourself,” he said.

“I’m not saying I was bullied because some of the classroom banter was good-humoured, but there were kids who made life hell.

“I got pushed down the stairs a couple of times and called Forrest Gump, but that’s life and you deal with it. I’ve

fallen down all my life but I’m pretty stubborn so I’ve learned how to pick myself up and rarely get hurt.”

While Roberts may have been the last to be picked for his beloved rugby, no surprise given he attended school with Lions Michael Owen and Gethin Jenkins, it was a different story in the pool where even his debilitating symptoms
could not hold him back. Now, thanks to his National Lottery funding, chasing a place in history is a full-time job, starting next week at the Visa Paralympic World Cup in Manchester.

“I’m fortunate to be the best at what I can do and perhaps my cerebral palsy is a blessing in a very good disguise,” he said.

“People in the valleys work hard all their lives but don’t get a lot but swimming has enabled me to travel the world and being part of the Olympics was a dream come true that thousands of people would kill for. I’m lucky to receive lottery funding as well so I’m not prepared to waste what I have.

“I’m actually a bit of a thrasher in the water but guts can only get you so far and if I want to achieve my real
potential then I have to start working on my technique.

“The only things that can stop me are myself, injury or death. Other than that I’m determined to achieve my best.”

That is obvious to anyone who spends five minutes in his company.