Great Britain's Jessica-Jane Applegate on the podium with her gold medal after the Women's 200m Freestyle - S14 Final at the Aquatics Centre, London.

Another Gold medal for Norfolk paralympian Jessica-Jane Applegate - this time with a Royal seal of approval

By Lauren Rogers Tuesday, March 12, 2013
6:20 PM

Norfolk’s golden girl Jessica-Jane Applegate has collected her MBE at Buckingham Palace.

Six months after storming to victory at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, young swimmer Jessica-Jane was in London today to receive her honour from royalty.

The 16-year-old from Gorleston, who has Asperger’s syndrome, was made an MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours list for her services to swimming. The young athlete won gold in the 200m freestyle at last summer’s Games - the first Brit to achieve Paralympic gold in the S14 category.

She was presented with her honour by the Princess Royal and later took to Twitter to remark how her MBE’s ribbon matched the eye-catching colour of her hair.

• See more in tomorrow’s EDP.