Background
She was born with Upper Limb Deficiency, and is missing her left hand.
She was born with Upper Limb Deficiency, and is missing her left hand.
She came to the United Kingdom in 1996. After trying out several sports and activities as a child, she settled on swimming at the age of 12. Her first major competition was the World Championships in Durban, South Africa in 2006, and since then she has competed in the Beijing Paralympic Games in 2008, the European Championships in Reykjavik in 2009, and also the World Short Course Championships in Rio (also in 2009).
As of August 2012, Watkin is ranked no 1 in the world in 50m freestyle.
She is also ranked 3rd in the 100m freestyle, 2nd in the 200m IM, 8th in the 100m breastroke, and 10th in the 100m backstroke,
She is the European record holder for 100m freestyle (1 minimum 0307 secs) and 200 I.M. (2 minimum 3599 secs)
She used to train at the City of Salford Swimming Club full-time under the Salford Competitive Training Scheme, and was coached by John Stout, who was selected as the coach for Paralympics Great Britain Swimming Team at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. However, Louise Watkin (and fellow medallist Heather Frederiksen) are looking for a new club after quitting City of Salford swim team after, according to British Broadcasting Corporation Sport, a breakdown in the relationship with coach John Stout.