Two-time Paralympic medallist Louise Fiddes has said she rekindled her love of swimming at Birmingham 2022 after a medal-winning performance in the pool.
"Since I started racing professionally, the Birmingham 2022 crowd is by far the biggest I've ever had," said Louise Fiddes, who secured bronze in the women's 200m freestyle S14 on Wednesday, August 4.
"It was quite exciting but a little bit scary to walk out and hear that massive roar.
"At Tokyo 2020, there were no crowds because of Covid-19, so this year's Commonwealth Games was a completely different experience."
Fiddes, aged 21, won silver in the 100m breaststroke SB14 and bronze in the 200m individual medley SM14 at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games last year.
The Hatfield Swimming Club and Team England athlete returned to the international stage in July for the Madeira 2022 World Para Swimming Championships to collect two bronze medals.
At Birmingham 2022, Fiddes swam her final-only event in a time of two minutes, 11.22 seconds, beaten only by English teammate Jessica-Jane Applegate and Northern Irish Commonwealth champion Bethany Firth.
"After Tokyo, I took some time to rest and recover," Fiddes said.
"This year's season began and I was pumped after the Paralympics, but sadly, everything seemed to be going wrong. Every six weeks, there would be something causing me to miss training.
"As the season went on, I wasn't enjoying swimming all that much. It was making me stressed out and I wasn't achieving the times I wanted to achieve.
"I was quite upset after the world championships.
"But I came home, sat down with my coach and we worked on a bit of a 'reset'.
"We spoke to each other and decided - I only had one Commonwealth race, it's a home games, and I could take the opportunity to fall in love with the sport again and compete for England which I've never done before.
"And the five weeks between Worlds and Birmingham? I loved every second of it.
"I felt like a completely different person."
Fiddes' medal haul from senior international competitions now features bronzes, silvers and golds from freestyle, breaststroke and individual medley events.
She said she feels training for a range of events makes her a "better swimmer" overall.
Fiddes added: "It did disappoint me, as a para swimmer, that the competition only featured roughly half of the para swimming classifications.
"And each of those classifications only had one event, which was just one final."
For example, in Fiddes' S14 classification, the only event in which she could compete was the 200m freestyle - with no option to compete in her breaststroke "main event".
Non-para or able-bodied swimmers were given heat and final swims across a range of distances and strokes.
"At the absolute minimum, if the Commonwealth Games wants to claim it's diverse, every single classification should be represented," Fiddes said.
"It does masses for para sport to have para athletes compete on the same stage as the best able-bodied athletes in the world. It sends the message that we all do the same sport and we're all the best in our categories.
"That's not to say the Olympics and Paralympics should be one event - but having the same stage at the Commonwealth Games is an incredible opportunity.
"While there are more para athletes at Birmingham 2022 than in previous games, it's not quite where it needs be."
The Commonwealth Games features eight para sports in its 2022 programme, including swimming and athletics - one more than in the previous 2018 Gold Coast games following the inclusion of para table tennis.
Fiddes said that, on her return to Hatfield, she will begin to plan the next year and competition season, focusing on the breaststroke and medley events.
She added: "I'm massively proud to be from Welwyn and I dearly love my club in Hatfield - I couldn't be in the position I am today without them or my family.
"Dreams do come true!"
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