![Alice Tai relishing Commonwealth Games debut Alice Tai relishing Commonwealth Games debut](https://d1s9j44aio5gjs.cloudfront.net/2017/04/alice_tai_backstroke_rio_2016.jpg)
Alice Tai relishing Commonwealth Games debut
March 29, 2018Paralympic champion Alice Tai is relishing the chance to meet new people as part of Team England’s Commonwealth Games squad.
The 19-year-old, who trains within the National Performance Centre in Manchester, is competing at her first Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast.
![Alice Tai](https://www.swimming.org/~widgets/images/athletes/swimming/goldcoast/alice_tai.jpg)
- DOB: 31/01/1999
- Club: Bournemouth Collegiate School SC
- Coaches: Zoe Baker / Adam Parfitt / Graeme Smith
- CWG: Making debut at Gold Coast 2018
But despite her teenage years, Tai is an experienced para-swimmer, having won gold as part of the 4x100m medley relay team in Rio in 2016. She also claimed a bronze medal in the S10 100m backstroke in Brazil.
Tai also won four medals – three bronzes and one relay gold – at the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow and returned from the 2014 European Championships in Eindhoven with a gold, silver and bronze medal.
More exciting
Now now her focus is on the Commonwealth Games – and she will be looking to add to her medal haul while on Australia’s Gold Coast
“For me, being on a Commonwealth Games team is a lot more exciting than worlds and Europeans because it’s a mix of sports and of able-bodied and para-sport together,” she told the Bournemouth Echo.
“It’s also exciting to have new team-mates. I’ve been on the British para-swimming team for four years now, which is great, but it’s exciting to meet new people.”
Tai was awarded an MBE in the 2017 New Year’s Honours list.