Matthew Redfern

Ambition: To compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (Instagram profile, 07 Aug 2023) Additional Info: FAMILY AFFAIR His sister Rebecca Redfern has represented Great Britain in Para swimming. Matthew is the older sibling but Rebecca has more experience swimming at international level. The pair were both part of the British team that competed at the world championships in 2022 and 2023, and they competed together in mixed relay events at both tournaments. "Rebecca has been on the team for many years and I've only been here for a year or so [speaking in 2023]. This [the 2023 World Championships] is our second major championships together and it's really nice to be competing alongside her, especially with us both being in the same relay. It's very much a sibling bond rather than a sibling rivalry because we have to push each other to be better, so we can both perform and try to aim for that medal." (SportsDeskOnline, 05 Feb 2024; droitwichstandard.co.uk, 02 Aug 2023) OCCUPATION He combines swimming with his professional career as an operations analyst for a hotel benchmarking company in Worcester, England. "The work-swim balance is tough, because normally people have a work-life balance but I've not got a lot of room for the 'life' so mine is predominantly a work, swim, gym repeat. There are times my mates are like, 'Let's go out this night and that night' and I'll be tempted, but I'm very much focused on my goals and what I need to do to achieve what I want to do." (britishswimming.org, 26 Apr 2023)

Sporting Relatives: His younger sister Rebecca Redfern has represented Great Britain in Para swimming. She won silver in the SB13 100m breaststroke at both the 2016 and 2020 editions of the Paralympic Games, and claimed gold in the same event at the world championships in 2019 and 2023. (SportsDeskOnline, 05 Feb 2024; britishswimming.org, 17 Jun 2022)