A Golden Girl at 13 - Eleanor is youngest British solo swimmer

Daley became Britain’s youngest Olympian for 60 years but Simmonds, the diver’s junior by six months, has now set a new mark in the 48-year history of the Paralympics by winning the women’s 100 metres freestyle.

Eleanor Simmonds celebrates her gold medal in the Water Cube in Beijing

‘I had a dream last night about the final but in my dream I only won silver,’ said Simmonds, the youngest on the 200-strong British team. ‘I can’t believe you are calling me Paralympic champion.’

Mirjam de Koning-Peper, the Dutch world bronze medallist of two years ago, led Simmonds by 1.5 seconds at the turn but it was the swimmer 26 years her junior who paced herself and won by half a second.

It was not even Simmonds’ strongest event. That is the 400m freestyle in which she set a world record in March. She swims that on Sunday when one of the strongest challengers will be team-mate Nyree Lewis.

It was watching Lewis’s victory at the last Games in Athens that inspired Simmonds to become an elite swimmer and persuade her parents, Val and Steve, to move from Boldmere in the West Midlands to South Wales, where she could join British Swimming’s high performance squad.

No pom poms, Kate? the Australian Sports Minister (left) in a British tracksuit at the basketball

They were there on Monday night to see the daughter born with achondroplasia, or dwarfism, become the youngest British gold medallist since Joanne Round, 12, won as part of a swimming relay team in Seoul in 1988.

While Simmonds celebrated her first gold, the men’s 100m freestyle saw Dave Roberts pick up his eighth, putting him on course here to draw level with Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson as the most successful British Paralympian. She won 11 in her wheelchair  and Roberts has hopes here in three more events.

Britain’s third gold of the day came at the velodrome where the blind Anthony Kappes, 35, from Stockport, set a world record in the 1kilo tandem time trial with his pilot-coach Barney Storey.

Sadly, Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe chose a basketball game to claim his prize from Australian counterpart Kate Ellis in a bet over which nation would finish higher in the Olympic medal table.

Ellis had to spectate in a British team shirt but had the last laugh as Australia won 67-48.