PARALYMPIAN Alice Tai says her double medal win still has not ‘sunk in’ since returning home from Rio.

The 17-year-old swimmer visited Bournemouth Collegiate School to show off her bronze and gold medals and enjoy a swim in the pool she trained in for six years.

The athlete made a splash in Rio after taking bronze in the women’s S10 100m backstroke and gold in the women’s 4x100m medley with para-swim team members Claire Cashmore, Steph Millward, and Steph Slater.

Describing her experience at the games, she said: “It was amazing. To come away with two medals at my first Paralympics – I couldn’t have asked for much more.

“Some of my swims could have been better, but I’m only 17 and I’ve still got loads to work on. And Tokyo is in four years so let’s see what I can do then.”

The teenager, who lives in New Milton, was born with two club feet and deformed lower legs and had 14 operations between the ages of 20 weeks and 12 years.

The surgery fused her feet and ankles at a 90 degree angle, meaning she has no movement in her ankles at all.

She said her training timetable was “very intense” and typically involved two hours of swimming in the morning, followed by an afternoon gym session and then another two hours in the pool in the evening.

But the hard work paid off and Alice said winning both gold and bronze in the Paralympics was a “surreal” moment.

“It was really strange singing the national anthem after winning gold. We were all convinced when Steph Millward dove in on the last leg that we were going to come second because the Aussie team were so much faster on paper. But she swam such an amazing last 100m, and when we looked at the board and it was a world record and we’d won – I don’t think it’s sunk in yet.”

She added: “All my family came out to watch, which was lovely. After I got my bronze, I went up and saw them. I’m going to treasure that moment forever.”

Adam Parfitt and Zoe Baker have coached Alice since the age of 11 and were also in the stands to cheer Alice on in Rio.

“It was a great way to cap off where we started the journey together,” Adam said.

“I started coaching Alice six years ago and, over the years, I’ve watched her develop as a person and an athlete.”