Career
At the end of 2004 Frederiksen suffered a serious accident that left her with limited use of her right arm and leg, and the need to use a wheelchair. Her doctors told her she would never swim again, and when she tried she found herself swimming in circles. lieutenant was in 2006, whilst watching television coverage of the swimming events at the, in Melbourne, that Frederiksen decided she wanted to swim again.
I"ll finish when I want to finish, not when someone else tells me to""—she had previously competed against Jackson.
Frederiksen now competes in the S8 (backstroke and freestyle), SB7 (breaststroke) and SM8 (medley) classifications. Her first senior swim meet came at the 2007 German Open, in Berlin.
Her first medal, a silver in the women"s 100 m freestyle – S8 final on 8 September, was followed two days later by gold in the women"s 100 m backstroke – S8 in a new IPC world record time of one minute 16.74 seconds. In her final event, the 50 m freestyle, she reached the final but finished in 7th position.
In addition to her 100 m backstroke world record Frederiksen is the current holder of the 50m freestyle world record, the 100 m freestyle world record, the 200 m freestyle world record and the 400 m freestyle world record, European records in the 50 m, 100 m, 200 m, 400 m freestyle, 100 m butterfly, 100 m backstroke S8 classifications, and holds the British record in a total of six different events.
The 2012 Summer Paralympics saw Frederiksen claim another gold medal in the 100 m backstroke S8, along with silver medals in both the 400 m freestyle S8 and 100 m freestyle S8. In October 2012 Heather Frederiksen (and silver medallist Louise Watkin) left the City of Salford, according to British Broadcasting Corporation Sport, as a result of a breakdown in the relationship with coach John Stout. Outside the pool, Frederiksen is a qualified driving instructor.