Please take the time to read through the incredible achievements from the 2025 World Transplant Games.
Notes to Editors:
*** Personal information and photographs of young people are included in this press release. Therefore all articles must be submitted to the named media contact for approval prior to publication. ***
Yorkshire Girls Crowned World Champions at 2025 World Transplant Games
Dresden, Germany – August 24, 2025
Two young swimmers from Yorkshire have made history at the 2025 World Transplant Games in Dresden, bringing home a combined 13 medals, smashing multiple world records, and flying the flag for Team GB among more than 3,000 athletes from 51 nations.
Violet Chhokar, 12, from York, and Ava Taylor, 17, from Huddersfield, were two of only 10 junior swimmers to be selected from across the country to represent Team GB at the 25th edition of the World Transplant Games. The World Transplant Games celebrates the power of sport and organ donation. Both girls were born with a rare metabolic condition called Ornithine Transcarbamylase
(OTC) Deficiency and are liver transplant recipients. They hope that sharing their story will raise awareness of OTC deficiency as a rare and often unheard of condition, and encourage people to share their wishes about organ donation.
What is OTC Deficiency?
OTC Deficiency is a rare disorder that affects the body’s ability to eliminate nitrogen waste. The condition impairs the urea cycle — the process by which the body removes excess ammonia, a byproduct of protein breakdown.
Without functioning enzymes to complete this cycle, ammonia can rapidly build up in the blood, leading to a condition called hyperammonemia, which can cause vomiting, lethargy, confusion, brain swelling, coma, and even death.
OTC Deficiency is X-linked, meaning it primarily affects males severely, but females — like Ava and Violet — can also experience life-threatening symptoms, especially during infancy or times of illness or metabolic stress.
Liver transplantation is often the only curative treatment for individuals with severe forms of OTC Deficiency. Both girls received life-saving liver transplants in early childhood: Ava at age 5, and Violet twice before the age of 3.
Even after transplantation, patients such as Ava and Violet must manage long-term risks, including organ rejection, immunosuppression-related complications, and ongoing medical care.
Violet’s Podium Sweep
At just 12 years old, competing in the 12–14 age category, Violet delivered a remarkable string of performances – winning medals in all five of her individual events:
🥇 Gold – 200m Freestyle (World Champion)
🥇 Gold – 100m Freestyle (World Champion)
🥈 Silver – 100m Breaststroke
🥈 Silver – 100m Backstroke
🥉 Bronze – 50m Freestyle
She also represented Team GB in the medley relay, helping the GB women’s B-Team to gain a strong 4th-place finish, outpacing several A-teams from across the globe.
Ava’s Record-Breaking Run
In the 15–17 age category, Ava dominated the pool, capturing seven gold medals, including six world records:
🥇 200m Freestyle – World Champion and New World Record Holder
🥇 100m Freestyle – World Champion and New World Record Holder
🥇 50m Freestyle – World Champion and New World Record Holder
🥇 50m Butterfly – World Champion and New World Record Holder
🥇 50m Breaststroke – World Champion
🥇 4x50m Freestyle Relay, GB A-Team – World Champion and New World Record Holder
🥇 4x50m Medley Relay, GB A-Team – World Champion and New World Record Holder
More Than Medals: Advocates for Inclusion
Beyond their sporting triumphs, Violet and Ava are passionate about promoting inclusion in sport for transplant recipients. With the support of Swim England and Tadcaster York Sport Swim Squad (TYSSS), the girls have helped shape the future of transplant athlete participation:
- TYSSS introduced the UK’s first transplant awards category at licensed competitive swim meets.
- The club earned Swim England’s Inclusion Impact Award for its pioneering work in advocating for inclusion for transplant recipients.
- TYSSS successfully campaigned for the official recognition of a national transplant swimmer category across all licensed Swim England meets.
- Ava has been a vocal advocate in national Swim England features.
- Violet led a successful challenge to change the rules at the British Transplant Games, ensuring junior swimmers could compete in team relays from age 9 and allowing junior swimmers to compete in higher age categories.
- Together the girls are passionate about building on the advocacy work done over many years by adult transplant swimmers, especially the Team GB Captains and founders of the UK Transplant Swimming Club – Liam Barnett and Jodie Cox – to drive forward inclusion for transplant swimmers on a national basis. Their long-term dream is to have the opportunity to train on a Paralympic pathway and compete at this level.
Left to right: Ava Taylor, Liam Barnett, Jodie Cox, Ellie Greenwood and (front) Violet Chhokar
A Journey of Courage and Inspiration
Ava received her life-saving liver transplant at age five, while Violet underwent two transplants before the age of three. Both girls live with the ongoing challenges of lifelong immunosuppression and periods of serious illness — but their spirit and determination have never wavered.
The two girls first met in 2016 at the British Transplant Games, Ava aged 8 and Violet just 3 years old. Their rare medical history bonded them together but no one would have predicted that they would both become world champion transplant swimmers. At Ava’s first World Transplant Games in Newcastle, 2019, six year old Violet shouted for her friend from the stands and applauded her
achievements. That moment sparked determination in Violet, who decided that despite the many challenges she was facing with learning how to swim, her goal was to swim at the British Transplant Games when she turned nine. Inspired by Ava, Violet achieved this and went on to join a local swimming club where she was supported to compete regularly in Swim England licensed meets. Violet’s accomplishments and dedication gained her selection onto Transplant Team GB this year. At her first World Transplant Games, Violet stood side-by-side with the friend who inspired her journey and celebrated not only their medals, but the challenges they have both overcome.
A Powerful Reminder
Ava and Violet’s victories are not just personal milestones; they are a testament to what transplant recipients can achieve with opportunity and support. They also shine a light on the urgent need for organ donors.
As of March 2025, more than 8,000 people — including 276 children — are waiting for transplants in the UK, the highest number on record. Violet and Ava hope that their stories will inspire others to start conversations about organ donation. It takes just two minutes to register as an organ donor. And it can save up to nine lives.
To learn more or register as an organ donor, visit the NHS Organ Donor Register.
The World Transplant Games are held biennially and are officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee.
All athletes are either transplant recipients or living donors.
Violet and Ava competed in Dresden, Germany, from 17–24 August 2025.
Links
British Transplant Games: https://www.britishtransplantgames.co.uk/
World Transplant Games: https://wtgf.org/
NHS Organ Donation: https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/
Tadcaster York Sport Swim Squad: https://www.tysswimsquad.co.uk/
Media Contact:
Helen Chhokar
Tadcaster York Sport Swim Squad
hello@helenchhokardesign.co.uk / phone number available on request
Notes to Editors.
*** Personal information and photographs of young people are included in this press release. Therefore all articles must be submitted to the above contact for approval prior to publication. ***
