A CHORLEY swimmer blew all competition out of the water to smash a world record and scoop a gold medal at the Paralympics in Athens.

Natalie Jones, 19, who lives in Heapey, won the 200m individual medley S6 event for swimmers with moderate to serious disabilities.

The teenager, who has cerebral palsy, clocked a record time of 3mins 18secs.

Natalie moved to Heapey from Colchester with her family just four months ago to take advantage of facilities at Manchester's state-of-the-art Aquatic Centre.

She said she was ecstatic with her win.

"It's absolutely amazing. I can't believe it," she said. "I knew I could win and break the world record, but I didn't know that it would be here.

"You know you've made it if you break the world record at the Paralympics, it means so much.

"I was aware I was behind near the start on the butterfly leg. I was breathing to the right so could see a couple of people ahead of me, but when I got to the last 15m of the freestyle, I knew I'd done it."

Natalie's success is all the more amazing given that the brain disease she suffers from makes her limbs permanently weak. The youngster still represents her home-town swimming team Colchester Phoenix despite moving to Chorley.

She was full of praise for her new home: "I moved to Chorley in June with my family. It's a really nice area even if it's a bit colder compared to down south!" she said.

"The people are really friendly and it's lovely they have made me feel so at home."

Natalie has wanted to win gold at the Paralympics since 1994, when she first took up the sport.

She appeared at her first Paralympics in 2000 when she celebrated her 16th birthday in Sydney.

Her coach Maggie Hargraves, of Colchester Phoenix, said: "Natalie's family moved to Heapey to be closer to the 50m pool at Manchester because we don't have a long-course pool down here.

"We are in regular contact and I know she is really enjoying her new home.

"Natalie was a very weak swimmer when she first came to us ten years ago and was told by other coaches that she'd only be good enough to swim round in circles.

"But she was incredibly determined and knew she wanted to swim in the Paralympics one day -- she's certainly proved them all wrong."