JIMMY Carr’s joke about injured military personnel boosting Great Britain’s Paralympic team is well known – but it’s not quite as simple as that.
Carr, prior to London 2012, said that Britain would have a “good Paralympics team” due to injuries suffered by troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The quip was widely criticised in the media but was well received by those service personnel the comic had visited at Headley Court, the rehabilitation centre.
Triathlete Joe Townsend, a Royal Marine who lost both of his legs while stepping on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in February 2008, said: “I don’t think there’s been as many athletes as people might have anticipated from the amount of service personnel we’ve had (injured).
“It’s a massive commitment to be able to become an athlete. There’s a massive misconception that ‘someone’s got a disability, so they can go to the Paralympic Games’.
“It’s just not the case. We are full-time, professional athletes. It’s a full lifestyle commitment, it’s hard work and only the best are going to be able to compete.”
Of the 264 members of ParalympicsGB at the Rio Games, which open tomorrow, seven have come through the Front Line to Start Line programme, which has seen military veterans’ charity Help for Heroes team up with the British Paralympic Association. Six of the 300-strong team for London 2012 had been supported by Help for Heroes.
Powerlifter Micky Yule, a Royal Engineer who also stepped on an IED in Afghanistan, will make his Paralympics debut in Rio.
“When you first get injured a lot of people think you’re ready for the scrapheap because you lost your legs in Afghanistan,” the 37-year-old from Musselburgh, near Edinburgh, said.
“Me and the guys coming through now who are going to Rio and were injured in Afghan have shown you can put your mind to anything.
“You can have the most horrible injuries and the biggest setbacks in life, whatever it is, and as long as you can put them away and deal with it and use sport – or use whatever motivates you – then you can achieve the biggest of dreams.” Two other Royal Engineers – canoeist Nick Beighton and amputee sprinter David Henson – are among the group supported by Help for Heroes. The three others are Jo Butterfield (athletics), Jon-Allan Butterworth (cycling) and Mikey Hall (archery). An eighth athlete Phil Eaglesham (shooting) will compete for Ireland, while the route of Alan Ash (wheelchair rugby), Ryan Cowling (wheelchair rugby), Jamie Burdekin (wheelchair tennis) and John Robertson (sailing) to the Paralympic team pre-dated the official link-up.
Townsend is now fulfilling that hope. The 28-year-old from Eastbourne competes on Saturday, as does Yule, four years and one day since pledging to be in Rio while recovering from the 2010 blast that left him without his left leg and a shattered right leg.
Yule, who will compete in the 65kg powerlifting category, said: “Four years ago I watched the [London 2012] closing ceremony in a hospital bed. When I looked at that closing ceremony I thought ‘in four years time I need to be there’.
“It was a big motivator for me and
I’m ready to do the best I can.”
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