About Rachael Rachael was born with Erb’s Palsy, a paralysis of the arm caused by an injury to the arm’s main nerves. She started swimming at age 3 and was introduced to para-swimming aged 9. Rachael uses only 1 arm to swim. Rachael narrowly missed out on the 2004 Athens Paralympics but this made her more determined than ever to compete the next time round. After successfully competing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she had to undergo major surgery and retired from competitive swimming in 2010 due to on-going injuries in her “swimming” arm.
