Giles quickly took to the swimming like a duck to water and was just a teenager when he made his debut performance at the 1994 World Championships in Malta. He immediately won gold in the S8 100m butterfly and silver in the 4x100m relay, to add the first of a remarkable 20 career medals in professional senior competition.
His third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh medals would follow soon after. He won gold once more in the 100m Butterfly at the European Championships in Perpignan, as well as a silver in the 200m individual medley. Next up was his first paralympics when Giles represented Great Britain in the 1996 Summer Paralympic Games in Atlanta. He finished the competition with three gold medals; the 100m butterfly, the 200m individual medley and the 4x100m Medley Relay.
Giles then qualified for the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, where he would win two golds and a silver, while setting a new World Record in the S8 100m Butterfly. He would compete at his third and final Paralympic Games in Athens in 2004. He won a bronze medal in the 100m Butterfly to mark the final one of his medals in athletics. In 2005 he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire before announcing his retirement from international athletics in 2007.
At the London 2012 Paralympic Games, Giles became a torchbearer for Team GB during the Olympic Torch relay, beginning at the top of Norwich Castle. That was not his only input to the Games however, as Giles was the inventor of the pioneering graphics system, LEXI which is used to explain the complex classification rulings in Paralympic sport. A fantastic sports speaker who is both knowledgeable and passionate about Paralympic sport, Giles Long is the ideal choice for sporting, charity and corporate events.
