Five-time Paralympic champion Ellie Simmonds OBE has announced her retirement from the games after missing out on a medal in Tokyo.

Simmonds, who has family in Aberdyfi, said: "I’m leaving it at the right time, I love it, I’ve absolutely had a wonderful competition and I’ve loved every minute of it."

The 26-year-old, who has won five gold medals in her career, was the youngest British athlete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing.

She is a former winner of the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award which she picked up in 2008.

Simmonds delighted the audience at Aberdyfi Players’ pantomime in 2017 when she joined the cast on stage at Neuadd Dyfi for their performance of ’Snow White and the Seven Dwarves’.

To the surprise of the audience, Simmonds appeared on stage with some of the cast for several minutes, causing great laughter throughout the hall, especially when she quipped to the acting dwarves on stage with her, "Call yourselves Dwarfs.”