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	TX: Friday 4th December 2009 - Paralympic Games PRESENTER: PETER WHITE

	Downloaded from www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE 麻豆约拍 CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. WHITE Now athletes with disabilities who may be unaware just how good they are, or how good they could be, have been urged to come forward to be considered for the 2012 Paralympic Games. The Great Britain team organisers say that with just under three years to go there's still time not only to take part in the Paralympics but even to win Gold. And they've got examples to prove it. Despite finishing an excellent second in the overall medal table in Beijing there were still sports in which the UK had no entries at all, and they don't want this to happen in their home Games. Well Chief Executive of the British Paralympic Association Phil Lane has been telling me more about what they're looking for. LANE Well we're looking for athletes across the range of disability groups that make up Paralympic sports. We're very interested and keen to get some depth into our programmes and to increase the number of athletes competing in the Games. As you know very well that we haven't always been able to field athletes in every classification group simply because we haven't been able to find those athletes in the population. So this is very much a drive to fill up some of the gaps that we have. WHITE And where are you going to look and what makes you think there might be a depth of hidden talent out there? LANE Well we're going to look nationwide, every corner of the UK, we're absolutely convinced that there are athletes out there and who perhaps don't realise that they're able to compete in the Paralympic Games and it maybe because they have a very minimal impairment and perhaps have been competing in able bodied sport without realising that in fact they're classifiable and able to compete. And I think when you hear Dave Smith's story he will illustrate that very clearly. WHITE Well let's bring in Dave, someone who's already shown that it is possible to do this and quite quickly as Dave Smith discovered earlier this year. Dave's now world champion in the Paralympic registered event adaptive rowing. So Dave how were you discovered? SMITH It came around by chance in a way, I was picked up by the Paralympic Potential Programme. This time last year I was still competing as an able bodied athlete in the British bob sleigh team. Due to the foot impairment I have it really held me back and it led to a string of injuries which ultimately, this time last year, forced me into retirement. At that point I was made aware of the Potential Programme, I thought about it for a few weeks and decided to go along to see what it was about and got in an [indistinct word] for the first time in my life and did a reasonably good time, which without even me knowing got passed on to GB Rowing and before I knew it I was in a boat in Caversham training. WHITE So you hadn't really been doing any competitive rowing at all? SMITH Never in my life, no I'd never - I'd actually - coming from bob sleigh which is a pure power sport I'd never actually done any aerobic training. WHITE And what does it feel like to - in this very short time - to have gone from never having been in a boat to being a world champion? SMITH Surreal. It was a big learning curve, it wasn't easy but worthwhile - every minute of it. WHITE Did you have any reservations - I mean Paralympic sport, what people think of, is that perhaps the people who take part have to be disabled, maybe quite seriously disabled, did you have any reservations of putting this label on yourself? SMITH The initial transition was quite difficult for me but not at all now, no. My disability is a minimal disability and I fit into a category called [indistinct words], which is other disabilities and my foot impairment has held me back in my sporting endeavours my whole life, I've always managed to reach a level and I just can't quite get up again simply because of my foot. In 2005 I achieved all the Olympic standards for bob sleigh and then going into 2006 Olympic season, due to my foot, I suffered three, four real major injuries and if I hadn't had that impairment of my foot I wouldn't have suffered these injuries. So I think, I take that into account and then I'm just grateful to have another chance at competing in a new sport and still competing on a world stage. WHITE Are the people who know you - are they surprised to discover that you're training for the Paralympics? SMITH I think the biggest shock was when people found out that I'd actually lost close to 15 kilos of muscle transferring sports, so they're a bit surprised when they first see me looking more like a rower. But a lot of people weren't aware of my disability, as I wasn't fully aware of it, and people I've spoke to and talked about it are all supporting me and very much behind me. WHITE Let me just go back to Phil Lane. In mainstream sport this speed of success is surely impossible, they'd usually reckon five or six years minimal to make it from nowhere to a Gold medallist, why is this, what are the reasons for it? LANE Well I think, as you rightly point out, in some of the mainstream Olympic sports it does take five or six years of really intense training. In a case like David's of course he was a world class athlete in a programme, so he's had a huge amount of training already. But I don't think that precludes people who perhaps have not been in that environment from making a transition in Paralympic sports. As you know we have a whole range of sports from powerful ones like rowing through to the more fine control ones like archery and shooting and provided they have a sporting aptitude and a real determination and will to win we think we can turn those people around and you'll be only too well aware of people like Matt Skelon [phon.] and Danielle Brown who won gold in Beijing. WHITE That was in - Danielle's case - that was archery wasn't it. LANE That was yeah. WHITE Do we have the resources to make the absolute most of 2012 London for the UK? I went to Beijing just before the 2008 Paralympics for You and Yours and what we discovered there of course was a huge residential centre with facilities where people were coming and staying, sometimes for months, are we going to be doing anything like that? LANE Well I don't think that's on our horizon really, that's not how we organise our sport in the UK. We see ourselves much - as a very inclusive sporting nation and we believe that there are great opportunities within our national governing bodies of sport to include people with a disability. I know there are some barriers at the moment we have to overcome but I'm sure 2012 will enable us to really challenge those and make sure that the genuine legacy from these Games is an opportunity for everyone to play the sports that they want to play. WHITE Phil Lane and Dave Smith. And if that has inspired you to have a go and you think you might be eligible, you can go to our website where you'll find links to instructions on what to do next. Back to the Transcripts homepage Back to the You and Yours homepage The 麻豆约拍 is not responsible for external websites

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