Team GB open water swimmer Hector Pardoe wants to script Wrexham’s next sporting fairytale at this summer’s Paris 2024 Olympics.
The 23-year-old hails from the Welsh town that has been revitalised by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s ownership of the football club and the Welcome to Wrexham documentary.
Pardoe isn’t actually a fan of the Red Dragons – he supports AFC Wimbledon – but he wants to give locals another reason to be cheerful with an Olympic medal at Paris 2024.
“When I was training in France, my coach asked me where I was from and he didn’t have a clue about Wrexham,” said Pardoe.
“Now, he’s messaging me all the time about the club and the documentary. I think it’s amazing what the owners are doing there and it’s exciting to live so close to that.
“Wrexham is on the rise, and I hope my performances in Paris can contribute to that.”
Pardoe has put it all on the line to become the first male Team GB athlete to win an Olympic medal in open-water swimming since David Davies’ silver at Beijing 2008.
Aged 18, just weeks after finishing his A-Levels and without speaking a word of French, Pardoe uprooted his life to Montpellier to work with world-renowned coach Philippe Lucas.
“Everything that’s thrown at me, I always take the hardest option,” said Pardoe. “I’m investing in myself massively and always taking risks and the hard work is starting to pay off.”
Pardoe’s Team GB debut at Tokyo 2020 in 2021 was marred by a freak injury.
He caught an elbow to the eye from a fellow competitor and feared he had lost his eye in the waters of Tokyo Bay, unable to finish the 10km race.
“Having not seen my family for years during the Covid restrictions, to have my Olympic dream cut short in that way was a real hard pill to swallow,” said Pardoe.
“It’s taken a lot to rebuild from that. It has instilled a huge hunger inside of me. That’s the first chapter of Hector Pardoe.
“I don’t want to be remembered as the guy who got his eye injured in Tokyo, I want to be remembered for what I can do in the future, starting in Paris and beyond. I just want to reshape the narrative and prove to everyone that I’m there to compete for medals.”
Pardoe is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – vital for his pathway to the Paris 2024 Games.
He made national headlines in September 2023 by swimming the 16.9km Lake Windermere in a world record time of three hours, 40 minutes, and 28 seconds.
Pardoe will be looking to add to his world silver at Paris 2024
Pardoe made more history in February, becoming the first British man to win a global open water medal since Davies in 2008 with silver at the World Aquatics Championships – also qualifying a place for Paris 2024.
Build-up to the open water events in Paris has been dominated by speculation of water quality issues in the River Seine. Pardoe is optimistic that the proposed course will deliver the goods.
“I think it’s going to be a fantastic race, a race for the ages in terms of open water swimming,” said Pardoe. “When people look back at open water swimming, everyone remembers Rio 2016 and I think Paris will be the same thing.
“It’s going to be really, really exciting, it’s going to be fantastic for spectators with 20 or 30 thousand spectators there. Open water swimming is massive in France, it’s almost like the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race here in the UK.”
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