The mum of a Wirral athlete who won a gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics said she "did it all from the Wirral".
Freya Anderson, from Upton in Wirral, was part of the mixed 4 x 100m medley relay team who won gold for Team GB.
Her mum, Helen, spoke to the ECHO while she was on her way to pick Freya up from the airport as she returns home from the competition.
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She told the ECHO: "I'm just really really proud for her.
"She's had a great week and being part of that team is just fantastic."
Freya attended St Joseph's primary school and then Upton Hall Convent School before winning a scholarship to Ellesmere College in Shropshire.
The 20-year-old started her swimming career when she was nine after attending lessons at Caldy Pool.
Her mum credits the support Freya had in the borough for helping her to flourish into the Olympic medallist she is today.
Helen said: "She did it all from the Wirral.
"She learnt to swim at Caldy and Hoylake pools, she swam for Caldy Swimming Club and then Wirral Metro Swimming Club, all of it from the grassroots.
"She went along to Caldy pool where a lady called Christine Fisher taught her to swim as a life skill.
"When she was nine or 10 they asked her to go for a trial to Hoylake and she moved up the ranks.
"She loved it, being in the pool was her happy place."
Freya was then invited for a trial at Wirral Metro, a performance club which was previously funded by Wirral Council.
She said: "There were local galas at Europa Pools, where she did all her training, and then she went to counties before moving up to regional and national."
Aged 14, Freya made her first national time in the 200m breast stroke and from there her swimming career has continued to flourish.
Earlier this year, Freya won five gold medals after competing in the European Championships.
Helen says as Freya was growing up she spent "a lot of time at the side of very hot pools."
She said: "The kids, they're amazing, they go after school and before school, it's relentless the training.
"They work so hard and the swimmers are very humble, they don't really talk about the training.
"She's worked so hard since she was nine and the support she had from the local pools on the Wirral was crucial.
"Hoylake Pool is run entirely by volunteers, they provide fantastic support with volunteer coaches and parents helping out too.
"It's that infrastructure that helped her."
Helen says that while she was disappointed not to be able to watch her daughter in person in Tokyo due to Covid restrictions, the family set their alarms to get up and watch her.
She said: "We did book to go to Tokyo last year, and obviously that was cancelled.
"This year was cancelled [too] so we were setting our alarms and getting up through the night.
"She's kept in touch and been having a great time, and they went to celebrate last night, so she will be quite tired today."
"During lockdown, she's at Bath University and she had to come home for eight or nine weeks to train in the garden.
"She went out on her bike, was running and there was a company who very kindly donated a swimming spar, an endless pool, which we have in the garden, so that was good and it was very exciting to have that delivered."
Helen said the response she's had in the local community since Freya won the medal has been "lovely."
She said: It's been really nice - we've had so many nice messages, people are really proud of her, mums [of children she] went to school with and school friends, so lovely, positive and nice.
"We've had people saying she's inspiring people to go back to sports and things, it's been so exciting."
Although mum Helen hopes Freya will have "a bit of rest" she will soon be heading out to Italy to take part in a new swimming league and will be competing at the Commonwealth Games and World Championships back in Japan.
Helen said: "She just works so hard, it's her life, and we're really proud of her."
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