Newham has plenty to shout about after the borough's boys' team splashed their way to a bronze medal at the London Youth Games ParaGames Swimming finals.
The squad's third-place finish came at the end of a packed day of racing on 14 May at The Spa at Beckenham, where 76 young swimmers from 13 London boroughs went head-to-head in the pool.
Newham's medal haul was built on a string of strong individual performances across the day's events, with the team picking up medals in a range of categories before securing their place on the podium.
Every swimmer taking part had a disability or impairment, with races run across five categories: mild learning disabilities, severe learning disabilities, visual impairment, hearing impairment and ambulant.
Competitors raced in freestyle and backstroke heats before three mixed-gender relays, the last of which brought all impairment groups together in the pool — the day's noisiest moment by some distance, with parents and teammates packing the stands.
Bromley topped the table with gold in both the boys' and girls' competitions. Sutton took boys' silver and girls' bronze, and Wandsworth picked up girls' silver — leaving Newham's boys to round off the boys' podium.
Organisers said 35 per cent of those taking part came from diverse backgrounds, pointing to it as a sign of how far the event reaches across the capital.
The mayor of Bromley presented the medals and said: "Success stories like this, of young people being supported with accessibility to achieve what they're passionate about and show what they're made of, are wonderful."
The London Youth Games has form when it comes to producing future stars, with Craig Moate, Ellen Gandy and Dervis Konuralp all having come through its ranks.
This year's ParaGames swimming competition was supported by Chaotic, a UK platform set up to back families of children with special educational needs. Founder Shana Kennedy started the organisation after her own experience as the parent of an autistic son, Reyon. It now counts more than 76,000 members, around 90 per cent of whom have an SEN relation.
The London Youth Games Foundation works with more than 10,000 young people across the capital every year, delivering events in 37 sports across all 32 boroughs and the City of London.
