The pool management team at a public facility in Mansfield, England, will be happily adjusting to their pool’s new name. After a district council vote, the competition pool at the Water Meadows has been renamed the Hynd’s and Henshaw Competition Pool, as reported by the Mansfield and Ashfield Chad. The change honors Charlotte Henshaw, and brothers Oliver and Sam Hynd, all of whom represented Great Britain at international Paralympic events.

“I believe that attitudes changed dramatically with the introduction of sport for the disabled and especially the Paralympic Games, which showed the world that disabled athletes could hold their own and often do it better than able bodied people,” Councilman John Smart, Chairman of the Licensing Committee at Mansfield District Council, told the Mansfield and Ashfield Chad. “The three athletes won world European and National medals, and between them over a dozen of those were gold. We talk a lot about role models for our young people – well look no further.”

Charlotte Henshaw

Henshaw was born in 1987 and began swimming lessons at the age of 4. She participated in the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, as well as the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. In the former event, she finished fourth place in the 100-meter breaststroke. In London, she earned the silver medal in the same event.

Outside the Paralympic Games, Henshaw won gold for the 100-meter breaststroke at the the 2009 IPC European Championships and the BT Paralympic World Cup during all three years between 2009 and 2011.

Henshaw was born with a congenital defect that left her without tibias and with short femurs. Both legs were amputated at the knees when she was 15 months old, and she had been walking with artificial limbs since she was 2. In 2009, she earned her Bachelors degree in Psychology and Sports Studies from Stirling University.

Oliver Hynd

Hynd was born in 1994 and represented Great Britain as a swimmer in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. During the Games, he won gold in the 200-meter individual medley, silver in the 400-meter freestyle and bronze in the 100-meter backstroke. He also finished in fourth place for the 100-meter butterfly.

Aside from the Paralympic Games, he is most proud of winning the gold medal for the 200-meter individual medley at the 2011 IPC European Championships in Berlin, a performance that set a European record. In 2013, Oliver was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Oliver lives with muscular dystrophy.

Sam Hynd

​Hynd was born in 1991 and participated in the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, as well as the 2012 Paralympic Games in London alongside his brother. In Beijing, Sam won gold in the 400-meter freestyle and bronze in the 200-meter individual medley. In London, he earned the bronze in the 400-meter freestyle.

Outside the Paralympic competitions, Sam won gold medals for various events at the British Championships in 2008 and 2009, the IPC European Championships in 2009 and 2011, and the IPC World Championships in 2009.

Like his brother, Sam lives with muscular dystrophy.