Eleanor "Ellie" Robinson (born 30 August 2001) is an English retired swimmer.[1][2] Competing in SB6[3] and S6 classification events, Robinson holds the World record and the Paralympic record in the S6 50m butterfly and the World record in the 100m, setting both at the age of 13.
In 2016, Robinson won four medals at the 2016 IPC Swimming European Championships. She followed this success at the Rio Paralympics in 2016, where she won the gold medal in the women's S6 50m butterfly event and bronze in the women's S6 100m freestyle event. She became known for her "gangsta swagger" as she entered the pool in her oversized coat with its hood up.[4]
Robinson learned to swim at the age of four, and joined Northampton Swimming Club in 2012.[3] She stopped training after 2 months (having been diagnosed with Perthes disease), but returned to the pool in 2014. In 2014 Robinson was enrolled into the British Swimming's World Class Podium Potential Programme.[3]
She made her senior international debut for Great Britain at the 2015 International Deutsche Meisterschaften in Berlin.[8] At the tournament she set a world record in the 100m butterfly, with a time of 1:26.30.[8] She followed this with a silver in the 50m butterfly, in which she improved on her own British record, and a bronze in the 200m butterfly.[8]
In 2016, in the build up to the Summer Paralympics in Rio, Robinson again improved upon her British 50m butterfly record, finishing in 36.34 and taking the gold medal. This was also under the time for consideration for Paralympic qualification.[9] She followed this with her first major international tournament, representing Great Britain at the 2016 IPC Swimming European Championships in Funchal. There Robinson entered five events, winning medals in four of them. In the 200m Individual Medley (SM6) she finished fourth, but took bronze medals in the 50m, 100m and 400m freestyle events. In the 50m butterfly she was beaten into second place by the then Paralympic champion, Oksana Khrul of Ukraine. Khrul, who set the then 50m world record of 36.05 at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, improved her time with a result of 35.48. Robinson's silver medal time was 35.66, also under the 2012 World record.[10]
Robinson won the gold medal in the women's S6 50m butterfly event at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, in a new Paralympics record time of 35.58 seconds, beating 2012 champion Oksana Khrul into second place.[11][12] She also won a bronze in the 100m equivalent at the same Games.
Robinson won the gold medal in the women's S7 50m butterfly event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, beating Canadian Sarah Mehainl into second place.[13]
