Whilst most of us are comfortably tucked up in our beds at 4.30am, Isabella Haynes is getting up in order to take the journey to either Littledown or Canford to put in two hours of swimming practice. She swims six or seven times a week, sometimes in the early mornings and/or after school. And it has certainly paid off.

The 14-year-old QE School pupil who lives in Colehill with her family went to the ESSA World School Games in Rio de Janeiro where she won a Gold Medal in the 200m freestyle and a Silver in the 200m Individual Medley.

Isabella, a right leg amputee, also won the special award of Top Feminine Para Athlete.

Her mother Elizabeth said: “We are super proud of her and would like to motivate disabled people to get active and achieve whatever they dream of.”

Isabella and her twin sister Sylvana were born prematurely and sadly the advice from surgeons was to amputate Isabella’s damaged right leg. She also has a brother, 17-year-old Sebastian.

At the age of three she started swimming in Ferndown – and she hasn’t stopped since then.

Her coach Janet Latham subsequently said she was sure Isabella would be able to attend a normal swimming club and she joined Swim Bournemouth.

She does the front crawl and initially there was a balance issue as she doesn’t use her prosthetic leg in the pool.

“At first I was like a snake, but fortunately since then I have become stronger on the amputation side. My coaches have been really good,” said Isabella.

Her first national para competition was in Swansea in the winter of 2021 where she made the final.

“I just loved the experience,” she said.

This was all the more remarkable as, prior to this, pools had been closed because of Covid and she had to do her training at home via Zoom.

“I did Pilates, burpees, sit ups and planks,” she said.

She subsequently competed in Aberdeen and Glasgow, and in Sheffield in March this year she not only won the 400m front crawl in the Citi Para Swimming World Series, she achieved her personal best.

She has a large box full of medals, but clearly the pinnacle of her swimming career so far has been the trip the Rio this summer where she spent ten days.

There were 25 in the group – five able bodied boys and five able bodied girls, four para swim girls and three para swim boys.

All this achievement doesn’t come without a huge amount of hard work and dedication from Isabella and it has to be remembered that she also her GCSEs to work towards.

“Sometimes I feel I don’t want to go to swimming practice, but I am always pleased when I do go,” she said. “Training makes me feel really good, relieves stress and afterwards I feel awake and focused.”

As she is still growing, Isabella has to have new prosthetics every year and admitted she does sometimes experience difficulties.

“When I was younger I used to trip up a lot, and sometimes I still have problems walking downstairs,” she admitted.

She said that even if she hadn’t had a disability she would probably have still taken up swimming.

“It’s a calm sport and injuries are not as common as in other sports.”

Isabella, who went to St John’s First School and Allenbourn School, before going to QE said she had always had support from PE teachers who ensure that she is able to manage sports.

“And Allenbourn even raised some money to help fund my trip to Rio,” she said.

Isabella is hugely committed to her sport and admitted that she has her eyes on the 2028 Paralympics. A remarkable and inspiring teenager.