A FORMER soldier from Caerphilly has won four gold medals while competing for the British Armed Forces team at London’s Invictus Games.

Swimmer Lewis Edwards, 26, of Aberbargoed, joined other injured servicemen and women in the pool at the games which was championed by Prince Harry.

The former army private served with the 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh for three years and started swimming two years ago after he lost his right arm to above the elbow in a car accident.

Edwards claimed four gold medals in the pool at the London Aquatics Centre over the weekend.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic, really chuffed,” he said. "I started swimming two years ago, hoping to get to Rio, so for this to come in the middle is a good warm-up.

“I have got a lot of training to do before I can qualify for my times [for Rio Paralympics].

“Now I’m going to knuckle down in training and slowly go into Para-Tri [Paralympic Triathlon], that is a big thing I want to step into and the good thing it’s good training for both sports and if I don’t make one I can go for the other [swimming and Para-Tri].”

He won in all four categories in which he competed, including the 50-metre breaststroke, the 50-metre backstroke, the 100-metre front crawl and the 50-metre front crawl at the games.

The trainee gas engineer currently swims with the Caerphilly County Swim Squad in Bargoed and trains for an hour-and-a-half each day.

Speaking to the Campaign ahead of the Games, father-of-two Edwards said: “It’s quite an honour to be chosen as part of the British Armed Forces team.

“I picked swimming up quite quickly with my arm but it has been hard, especially with going away for competitions with two young kids.

“The fitness side has been challenging. My father has built a pool out the back for me to train in, complete with a hydraulic pump system to simulate swimming against the tide.”

For more information on the games, see invictusgames.org.