Brittany Gray
Swimming
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Brittany Gray is a former Innisdale Secondary School student and member of the Barrie Trojan Swim Club and the Canadian Swimmers With a Disability (SWAD) swim team. She was born with CMT, a form of Muscular Dystrophy. She took up swimming to help delay or reduce muscle deterioration. Swimming became a passion for her and she has been swimming competitively under the coaching of Marta Belch.
In August of 2006, Brittany attended the US & Canadian Trials for the World Championships in San Antonio, TX. Her outstanding performance at this competition earned her a spot on the Canadian team that competed in the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) Swimming World Championships at Durban, South Africa, in August of 2006. Brittany was very busy in this competition. She competed in the 100m butterfly, 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 100m breaststroke, 200m individual medley, and the 4 x 100m freestyle relay. She was an automatic induction into the Barrie Sports Hall of Fame as a result of the Silver medal that she and her teammates won in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay at this World event. Brittany has continued to impress the Paralympic community.
In March 2007, Brittany posted a personal best time in the women’s 100m breaststroke at the Can-Am Championships for swimmers with a disability in Montreal. This competition also allowed her to qualify for the Para Pan American Games at Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in August of 2007. She came home from Brazil with Gold in the women’s 100m breaststroke and the women’s 100m butterfly. She also won Bronze in the women’s 100m freestyle and women’s 400m freestyle. At the Canadian SWAD CAN-AM Open Swimming Championships, in Vancouver on July 15, 2007, Gray’s time of 3 minutes and 13.28 seconds broke the Canadian record in the women’s S9 category 200m breaststroke.
In April 2008, at Montreal, Gray accomplished a long-time dream of qualifying for the 2008 Paralympic Games, which was held in September following the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She represented Canada along with 20 other swimmers. She qualified in the 100-m butterfly, 100m breaststroke, 100m freestyle, and the 200 and 400m freestyle. Her time of one minute, 30 seconds in the 100-metre breaststroke set a new national record.
- Portrait painted by Keith Diemer