Jessica-Jane Applegate

Date of Birth	22 August 1996
Age	28
Place of Birth	Great Yarmouth
Commonwealth Appearances
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Trailblazer Jessica-Jane Applegate became the first British swimmer with an intellectual disability to win a Paralympic gold medal after topping the 200m Freestyle podium at London 2012 aged just 16.

Applegate was made an MBE and went on to claim bronze and silver in Rio before taking up cycling when her swimming training was abruptly ended by the Covid-19 pandemic.

That paid dividends for Applegate - who has Asperger's Syndrome - when she won bronze in the S14 200m Freestyle and S14 100m Backstroke before claiming gold in the Mixed S14 4x100m Freestyle Relay at Tokyo 2020. 

In preparation for Tokyo during lockdown, a local hot tub company eventually got her back in the water by using a crane to deliver a swim spa over her garden fence.

In 2022, Applegate added to her medal collection with a Commonwealth Games silver in the S14 200m freestyle.