Selection for the Paralympics and Olympics: Who gets to decide who competes? August 27, 2024 More than 4,000 athletes from 150 nations are set to compete in 22 different sports when the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris begin this week. The names selected have been confirmed over the last few months. Selection can cause controversy, as it did at the Olympics where the Netherlands’ beach volleyball squad made international headlines [...]
How Neil Fachie found Paralympic glory after ditching running track for velodrome August 26, 2024 Since he first jumped on a mountain bike in the north-east of Scotland, cycling has been Paralympic champion Neil Fachie’s one-way ticket to freedom. That Fachie is now the owner of two Paralympic gold medals and 19 world titles doesn’t do justice to a complex sporting journey that was never guaranteed to bend in a [...]
Hannah Cockroft on on basketball inspiration and being part of Paralympic power couple August 25, 2024 British Paralympic star ‘Hurricane’ Hannah Cockroft is so hardwired to win that she even challenges fiancee Nathan Maguire to duels at home. The Halifax athlete, 31, has dominated wheelchair racing for the last decade, claiming seven Paralympic golds, 14 World Championship titles and five world records. By herself she has made a sizeable contribution to [...]
Jonnie Peacock: London 2012 star not ready to finish Paralympic journey yet August 23, 2024 Jonnie Peacock insists he has no post-Paris retirement plans as he eyes up a thrilling hat-trick of Paralympic gold medals. The Cambridge sprint star, 31, catapulted himself onto the big stage with an unforgettable 100m T44 title at London 2012 before defending that crown in Rio four years later. Bronze at a Covid-affected Tokyo 2020 [...]
Alice Tai: ‘I used to cry before swimming. Now it’s my job’ August 22, 2024 Alice Tai is a Paralympic champion who has demonstrated that she is equally adept in front of the camera and in the pool. It has been some journey for an athlete who ran away from her first competition because of the crowd. The 25-year-old from Poole will head to Paris this summer looking to add [...]
Ed Warner: The Paralympics is heading for a transgender row in Paris August 22, 2024 A row over the eligibility of Italian transgender athlete Valentina Petrillo looms over the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, showing why para sports must be independent from organisers the IPC. It is increasingly difficult to find footage online of Raygun at Paris 2024. For a brief moment it seemed the Aussie breakdancer who launched a thousand [...]
British Judo’s ‘least fashionable man’ trending for gold at Paris 2024 Paralympics August 20, 2024 Band of brothers or pack of hyenas – reigning Paralympic champion Chris Skelley would not swap his British Judo squad for anything. The 31-year-old has made bonds for life with his training partners at the National Centre in Walsall. Although the Hull judoka does admit that they can brutally honest, particularly when it comes to [...]
Kadeena Cox: British Paralympic star aiming for more golds in Paris August 19, 2024 The 33-year-old is para sport’s ultimate all-rounder – the first British Paralympian in a generation to strike gold in two sports at the same Games.
Olympics and Euros fuel spike in pub and bar spending August 19, 2024 Sporting events such as the 2024 Euros and Olympics led to an increase in spending across Britain’s bars and pubs, new data has revealed. Individual spending at bars and pubs rose by 11 per cent compared to last summer as Brits flocked to their local boozers to take in the summer of sport. The number [...]
10 British medal hopes to watch at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games August 18, 2024 There are just 10 days to go until the Paris 2024 Paralympics begin, so to mark that occasion here are 10 British athletes to watch in the French capital. Paralympic medals are getting harder to win and Great Britain will call on a panoply of talent in order to do so this summer. UK Sport [...]