By Tom Degun

September 8 - Double Paralympic Champion Ellie Simmonds today claimed that she does not feel unbeatable in the pool despite dominating at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Swimming Championships in Eindhoven last month to claim four gold medals.



Simmonds, who is only 15-years-old, is one of the most recognisable faces in Paralympic sport and widely tipped to star at the London 2012 Paralympics following her stunning performance in the Netherlands.

However, despite claiming the scalps of the world’s top swimmers in Eindhoven, Simmonds admitted that she is not unbeatable and will have to train hard to ensure success at London in 2012.

Simmonds told insideworldparasport: "I don’t know whether I’d say I’m unbeatable.

"At the World Championships I was the best in the world but with disability swimming, people can get injuries very quickly so you don’t know who is going to be new on the scene.

"Also, in my disability class, there are a few young Chinese swimmers who are only 12-years-old and I think they will be very strong in a few years time come London 2012.

"So there are a lot of people to watch out for but while I’m not unbeatable, I feel very confident with the form I’m in and I can hopefully continue that."

Simmonds added that she is unsure of what events she will compete in come the London 2012 Games as there are big meets that she must focus on before the Paralympics arrive.

She said: "London 2012 is just under two years away which is a long time in swimming terms so I don’t really know what events I’m going to be doing at this stage.

"I’ve got the European Championships next year which are my big focus right now so I’m just going to go with the flow, train really hard and see what happens.

"I actually still have to qualify for London before I know whether I’m going for definite too.

"It would be nice to retain the titles I won in Beijing [the S6 100 and 400 metre freestyle events] but I’m just going to do my best on the day whatever event I’m in and see how that goes."

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