Swimming champion Dame Sophie Pascoe, New Zealand's most decorated Paralympian, has announced she is pregnant with her first child.
Taking to Instagram on Monday, Dame Sophie posted a video that her and her partner Rob are expecting.
"Rob and I are very excited to share that we have a baby Samson on board who is well and truly kicking away, and planning to dive into this world early 2024," she wrote.
Dame Sophie is New Zealand's most decorated para-athlete, with an incredible 19 medals won in the pool in her Paralympic career that dates back to Beijing 2008.
She also holds eight current world records in the pool, with the S9 women's 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 50m butterfly, 100m butterfly, 200m individual medley, and S10 50m butterfly and 100m butterfly.
The 30-year-old has won 11 gold medals across backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, butterfly and individual medley.
Dame Sophie has also won seven silver medals and one bronze in her Paralympic career, to go with 16 World Championship golds, four silvers and seven bronzes.
In 2022, Pascoe was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to swimming.
