PARALYMPIC hopeful Alice Tai made a golden start to her international career with two gold medals and a silver in Brazil.

The 14-year-old from Bournemouth Collegiate School also dipped under another European record at the Brazil School Games in Sao Paolo.

Tai was one of only four British swimmers selected for the event and all four are considered hot prospects to be back in Brazil in 2016 for the Paralympic Games.

She was restricted by the organisers to 50m events because of her age.

Tai won gold in the 50m freestyle and backstroke for the S10 disability category and silver in the SB9 50m breaststroke behind fellow Briton Amy Marren, 15, who won six medals in last year’s disability World Championships in Montreal.

Tai’s backstroke short-course time of 33.24 was also inside the British and European records but won’t count as the pool is fractionally short of 25m in length.

She already holds three S10 European backstroke records.

Tai also qualified for the final of the 50m butterfly but was forced to pull out due to a nose-bleed despite protesting that she was keen to swim.

“I had a great time,” said Tai, whose main target for 2014 is to qualify for and compete at her first European Championships, which will probably be in Eindhoven.

“The experience was incredible and the swimmers had a ball in Brazil,” added Alice’s mum, Angie Tai.

“They didn’t want to leave although I think the 35 degree heat had something to do with that.

“It has certainly given Alice that extra motivation to get to Rio. The reception they received was phenomenal.

“One of the highlights for her was when the Brazilian Paralympic swimmer Daniel Dias came to watch some of the swimming.”

All four of the British swimmers won medals despite having their first swims only hours a flight which left Britain at 3am.

The other two were Matt Wylie and London 2012 Paralympian Hannah Russell.

Tai is now preparing for the DSE National Junior Championships in Sheffield in March, the European Championship qualifiers in Glasgow in April and the German Open in Berlin soon after that.