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The Game Changers
In this award-winning podcast Sue Anstiss MBE talks to trailblazing women in sport. These are the individuals who are knocking down barriers and challenging the status quo for women and girls everywhere. Along with openly sharing their historic careers, what drives them and how they’ve dealt with the toughest challenges, each episode explores key issues for equality in sport and beyond.
We’re incredibly grateful to Sport England who support The Game Changers with a National Lottery award.
You can find out about all the guests at https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers
Fearless Women in Sport
The Game Changers
Sammi Kinghorn: Finding new paths forward
Sammi Kinghorn’s journey from a life-changing farming accident to the top of the Paralympic podium is nothing short of extraordinary. A double world champion, Commonwealth medallist, Paralympic gold winner and now a popular BBC presenter, Sammi’s story is one of unbreakable resilience.
In this powerful conversation, Sammi opens up about:
- Rebuilding her life as a teenager after a devastating spinal injury
- The mental battles behind the medals – and how anxiety has shaped her racing career
- The fight for equality and representation in para sport
- Finding purpose beyond the track and redefining what success really looks like
- An inspiring and honest conversation
Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.
Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers
Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media
A Fearless Women production
Hello and welcome to the Game Changers. I'm Sue Anstis, and this is the podcast where you'll hear from trailblazing women in sport who are knocking down barriers and challenging the status quo for women and girls everywhere. What can we learn from their journeys as we explore key issues around equality in sport and beyond? I'd like to start with a big thank you to our partners, sport England, who support the Game Changers podcast with a national lottery award. Today, I'm joined by Sammy Kinghorn, an extraordinary Scottish wheelchair racer and now TV presenter, who's won numerous World, european and Commonwealth medals over the past decade and last summer topped it all by winning a gold medal for Great Britain at the Paris 2024 Paralympics in the 100m T53.
Speaker 1:Sammy's also been awarded an MBE and an OBE for her services to athletics. It was my absolute privilege to be partnered with Sammy for the Women's Sport Trust Unlocked programme back in 2021, where I had the opportunity to get to know this fabulous woman a little better. So, sammy, it's really been a huge year for you an OBE in the New Year's Honours, and then you got married in January too. So how's life been since that incredible start to 2025? How's life been since that?
Speaker 2:incredible start to 2025? Oh, yeah, no, it's been incredible. I feel like, yeah, it's been one of those years, I guess, because of what happened in Paris, I've just been able to really enjoy everything and soak it all in and kind of like a nice build up into, yeah, getting married at the end of January and then, yeah, I went a couple of weeks ago to get my OB, which was lovely. It's such a strange thing like honors and things like that. I always find it quite a weird thing because obviously I train every day, train twice a day, six days a week and hope that one day I'll win a medal, but like something like an OB and MB is like you don't really know what you need to achieve to get that. So, like when you're given it, you're a bit like, oh gosh, like people are are watching and people are, yeah, obviously want to honor me for what I've achieved, which seems bad, because to me it's just a hobby and I love it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely. And we mentioned there in the opening that you won your first Paralympic gold in Paris last summer in 100 metres, added to this incredible medal haul that you've had over the years. But what did that mean to you, that kind of gold medal after all you've achieved so far?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's. I have to say again, it's what I'm training for twice a day, six days a week. But I think the reason I actually managed to win that I think it's just because experience, you know, through games and working at what I needed to perform and actually taking a lot of the pressure off myself Because I just I'm really bad for putting nobody else is putting pressure on me, it's just myself. But I kind of realized it's like it's quite weird thing, I guess, for an elite athlete to realize. But in Tokyo, I guess the lead up to Tokyo, I was like all I ever have wanted is to win a Paralympic medal and I thought, if I win this Paralympic medal it'll make my whole life happy. And that's just not the case. And I think I was like, well, why am I really doing this? Then what? What do I actually want to achieve? Because I might never win gold and that's horrible and terrifying. But I would rather accept that now and then, or instead of being bitter for years and years that you know that hasn't happened.
Speaker 2:And I think once I realized that and realized obviously I'm training twice a day, six days a week, because I want to win gold, but if I don't, it'll hurt in the moment, but it'll be okay and I just like really focus on, after Tokyo, actually figuring out who Samantha is not the sports person you know who, yeah, who I am outside of sport, which is also very, very hard and difficult. That's when I started doing that the TV presenting and things, just to kind of break up the world of sport. Um, because I think it's important for everyone to have a hobby outside of you know their job. So, yeah, it's. It's been a really, really exciting year and yeah, it's interesting, isn't it?
Speaker 1:because I do think that whole we focus so much on gold. I mean, my questioning is there is like oh my goodness, that gold, and seeing you ring that huge bell in celebration, you know it's so passionate, it meant so much. But you're absolutely right, for so many athletes you know far more athletes than will ever be at the top of the podium. You know, winning gold actually it might be an eighth place or it might not even be getting to a final, but it's still extraordinary what they've done and achieved. And I imagine then finding that balance and satisfaction and knowing you've competed at the highest level. It shouldn't really be all about the icing on the cake.
Speaker 2:No, it shouldn't be.
Speaker 2:And I just think that you know, when I went into Tokyo, I was ranked number one in the world for the 100 meters and I literally threw up on the start line because I was so nervous and I put so much pressure on myself and all I wanted was that gold medal because I thought, if I win this and everyone's expecting me to win because I'm number one in the world and then I, you know, came third in the end, it's quite a yeah, it's a hard, hard thing to actually work out and realize that this might never happen and I need to be okay with that.
Speaker 2:And I think by doing that on the start line I was so much more relaxed. I obviously, you know, I still want to, I'm still going to push as fast as I can. I'm still there to compete for the medal, but I knew I'd be okay and again, it's fine not to be okay in the moment because of course, you're going to be, you've put a lot of hours into it, but I knew the weeks coming after I would be okay about it. And, yeah, I think that was honestly like the biggest turning point for me in sport has been really like just learning how to take that pressure off.
Speaker 1:Do you work with a sports psychologist? Have they helped you through that process?
Speaker 2:Yeah, 100%. Yeah, yeah, jelani's my psychologist, who's fantastic. He's really quite. He's very nice, chilled, like Dormina, but you can tell when he kind of like switches and he's like right. So why don't we try this and this? And yeah, he's been really good.
Speaker 2:Because I think that was something I really wanted to work on, especially more recently, because after Paris, I was just so mentally drained because it's so many highs and lows and I was racing twice a day for five, six days in a row and I was just, I was absolutely physically, but most importantly, mentally knackered, um, and I really just wanted to work on that, especially this year, trying to figure out like how can I be a more confident racer because I know that is something I struggle with a lot like I'm sick before every single race, even if it's a local one.
Speaker 2:Are you always? Yeah, yeah, I get so, so nervous and I think I think part of it's because I am. I never wanted to be a growing up. You know, I was never under pressure as a child, so I don't know how to deal with it. It's very new to me. So, yeah, it's quite a straight, whereas obviously you know some of these girls. They've been doing it since they were seven years old, they've been nervous and done all that, whereas I'm like I don't know who I was and what I needed from it.
Speaker 1:You also took part in the London Marathon this April, as if you hadn't had enough amazing things this year and you'd placed fourth, I think, in the marathon in the Commonwealth Games in 2018. So how do you manage that kind of training on such vastly different distances, from like 100 metres to the marathon?
Speaker 2:I think that's like the most common question that we get as wheelchair racers. So how can you do that? Because a sprinter would never do that Just completely, of course, but a cyclist would and a swimmer would. It's all about. You know, obviously, when you're running you can only focus on one thing at a time. You're either sprinting and you're taking long breaks because you're putting out through so much power, or you're doing longer runs and you're endurance like you have to pick.
Speaker 2:When you're a runner because there there's just obviously so much going up through the ground into your, there's nothing to take the force, whereas on a bike or in a racing chair or when you're swimming, the force isn't directly through you. So even though when I'm for paris I was training for 100 meters, I was still doing probably 60 miles a week, 70 miles a week. I don't imagine many 100-meter sprinters are doing that much. But it's also if I roll 150 fast, I'll roll the next 300 easy, so we can build up miles a lot easier and a lot quicker than other people. The hardest thing in wheelchair racing is getting it going. Once you've got it going, it's just about momentum and endurance. After that you know it's a weird one trying like explain because it definitely. I think if it was invented now it'd probably be with cycling and not so much with them with athletics, because it's very, very different to it do you have a favorite to race or to train for?
Speaker 2:to train for would be the. Would it be the marathon? That's quite far. I love training on the roads like I really really enjoy that. Like when I still lived at home mom and dad's I would just push up and down our country road before school in the morning and that's what I've always. I've always been an outdoors person. So being outdoors and doing stuff like that, that's what I really really enjoy.
Speaker 2:I enjoy the 100 meters because it's technical and I like like technical changes and that sort of thing. I like analyzing and watching back and so you know, I enjoy, enjoy doing that as well. I think my favorite event probably would be the 100, but it is the one I get most nervous about because you can't mess up, because if you mess up then it's gone and before you even know it's gone. So that one, yeah, definitely brings a bit more pressure, but when you get it right it's a really nice feeling. You can normally know as well which is really interesting. I normally know from about 20 meters in if I've got it right how interesting is that?
Speaker 1:and and you're now training, I assume, for the world championships in New Delhi in September no, I'm not actually.
Speaker 2:Oh okay, which is a such a hard decision again to make, yeah, and that many athletes maybe don't understand when I'm definitely like a shoo-in and to probably win a medal as well. But because I've struggled so much, I've just decided to take a bit of time out. That's why I've done London Marathon and I'm going to do Sydney Marathon at the end of August as well, but because I love training, that's never, ever an issue. I don't have any problems with being motivated to train, but the racing part, I just need to sort that out before I burn out, you know, and I don't want to burn out before, really. So it's like, okay, I'm just going to take this year, do something I just enjoy without putting myself under so much pressure, because I think pressure is great and I think it's really really important to have pressure, but I think there's only so long you can.
Speaker 1:Your body can maintain that does that impact your funding at all or in terms of it? You need to be racing at world championships or you can choose no, we can choose.
Speaker 2:I think, um, because I've done so well last year, I'm in a very privileged position, um, and I've spoken to the british athletics and just said, like, if you want me to go to la, I need time now, and I'm starting to struggle with the level of pressure and just my own, my own mind and um, it's something I kind of want to talk about a bit more, because I haven't really I've told people I get sick and I'm nervous before races, but it's actually a bit more than that. I do get extremely anxious about it, and it's not just the night before, it's months before if I know that I'm racing. So I just kind of want to work that out so that when I get to LA, I'm on that start line and I'm confident, both physically and mentally.
Speaker 1:Not to at all compare my little triathlon foray to what you're doing, but I did some DB age group triathlon stuff about five, six years ago and one of the reasons I stopped was in the almost the weeks before, so two or three before I would have this hideous sense of foreboding and fear and anxiety. I realized eventually I think it was about the swim start that although I'm a strong swimmer, it was a swim start that caused that anxiety and I tried to work through it anyway. I didn't not stop doing triathlon, but it was, but even on a small scale. I thought why am I doing this when I have this horrible dread and anxiety, almost for it was for two or three weeks beforehand building up to it? It's not a pleasant place to be and I don't compare that at all with kind of where you are. I'm a learner, you're racing, but I can completely understand it's it.
Speaker 2:You know it's not something you would want in your life and some people thrive off it and that's amazing, and I do think it's important to put yourself in uncomfortable situations. I definitely don't think that you should ever shy away from things, but yeah, it is something that I really struggle with and I would like to figure that out. Because I do the sport because I love it. You know, it's not like we get paid a lot to do it, so it's not. That's not the reason I do it. It's because I love it and I'm not that I'm falling out of love with it, but it's just I'm finding it harder to love racing as much. So I kind of just need a little bit of time now just to kind of work that out and just try and see if there's anything I can do with my sports psych to to make it a bit easier.
Speaker 2:Because I love, like when the gun goes, I love it, yeah, yeah, it's just like that lead up on the start line, that feeling. Then just your body is awful to itself sometimes, the things that it makes me think and believe, yeah, so it's just like, as soon as the gun goes, I love it, I'm in my element, that's what I do, um, but I just want to, I want to enjoy the whole thing, because I genuinely believe one day, when I'm lying on my deathbed I don't think it's the medals I'm going to be like, oh I'm really glad I won that medal. I think it's going to be the memories and I don't want to remember just being terrified and throwing up every morning and not wanting to go and sit with lots of people in the dinner hall wanting to set up my own. That's not how I want to remember my sport. I want to remember it for, for all the good things.
Speaker 1:And how else has your training evolved, the physical training over? I guess more than a decade now, but the last 10 years?
Speaker 2:It's not changed too much. Obviously, the mileage has stepped up and because I'm getting older, I'm needing to do more mileage, and that would probably be the same. I guess there's a lot more going into wheelchair racing and they're now looking at aerodynamics and chairs and all that sort of stuff. So that's changing and training peaks and things like that, obviously, which put cyclists to kind of looking into a bit more of that and just trying to train a bit smarter, which is something I struggle with, because I like to go as fast as I can.
Speaker 2:Every single time I get my racing chair, which is not good for you, and so I'm trying to learn. You know that sort of thing. And yeah, I think there's still so much to learn in wheelchair racing because it is still a very obviously underfunded sport. And yeah, you know, there there's some countries where are miles ahead of us and we're just kind of playing catch up, which is exciting in some ways, because you're seeing how fast they're going in like new fancy racing chairs and you're like, okay, but it comes with a huge expense, which is because the profile is building, which is amazing. But it's then you know companies like Honda and Sauber and things are now building racing chairs, which has now obviously pushed the price to ridiculous levels.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's interesting, isn't it, where that goes to in the future, as you kind of look ahead and I guess, whether it's F1 or on the track, the cycling, we've kind of seen that huge investment that does make a massive, massive difference.
Speaker 2:so so you're really seeing that disparity with countries that can afford to invest in those at the moment yeah, you know, it's kind of like a catch-22 for for us because we want to be seen as an elite sport, for, like cyclists and things, their bikes are very expensive.
Speaker 2:So you know, if we want to be seen as elite sport, then that's the way it's going to go. Things are going to to be more expensive because there's going to be more technology. But power sport is meant to be about inclusion and it's hard enough to get onto funding anyways. But how do you get onto funding if you can't afford a carbon chair, because the carbon chairs are forcing the times to go faster, so then it's even harder for grassroots to get up to those times. So you're like, well, how is that kid ever going to get onto funding to be able to buy a racing chair if we're not bridging that gap or helping them in any way? As I said, it's catch 22 because we want both of those things. Um, but it's quite a hard one to kind of balance and manage and how much is a top carbon chair?
Speaker 1:what, what kind of prices are people talking?
Speaker 2:you're talking about 35 to 50 000 pounds.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow, that really has jumped on, hasn't it from yeah, and that's what I mean.
Speaker 2:That's with wheels and everything, so, um, everything you need to race with. So, but that's exhortation, isn't it?
Speaker 1:and can you take us back to your early life in the Scottish borders? What kind of chance did you have before your injury? But what was life like for you as a young girl?
Speaker 2:it was lovely. It was nice. I um brought up on a farm so I had lots of space to run and play. I enjoyed school. I loved school.
Speaker 2:I wanted to be a zoologist growing up because I was absolutely obsessed with Steve Irwin, like a bit too much, like I mourned his death for far too long and, yes, that's what I wanted to do. I used to tell my dad, with like the farm animals I'm going to work with, like lions and tigers, so, yeah, that was kind of what I'd had my heart set on. Yeah, I loved school, had lots of friends at school. Yeah, it was a pretty normal childhood, I guess. Yeah, like mum and dad worked incredibly hard. My first thing I'd do when I got home would be take off my school clothes and put on my work clothes and go and find dad on the farm and follow him around like his shadow, which I'm sure he hated sometimes, but I'm sure he looks back fondly on now. Yeah, so it was a nice childhood and I love going back home even now, just being able to be in that open space and out in the countryside.
Speaker 1:And at just 14, your life changed dramatically with a spinal cord injury. Are you okay to talk about what happened and I know it's funny, isn't it? I was preparing this this. I thought it's obviously part of your story, but I appreciate it must be hard for you to constantly have to revisit it as part of your story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do you know it's not, I'm not too bad talking about it and things because I think it's important to talk about it. Um, because, one, it's part of farm safety, because there's so many accidents happen on the farm, so it's a good thing to kind of um, obviously, mine's slightly different to other farm injuries and the fact that you know it wasn't anyone else's fault but myself. But I know that a lot of them, farmers, do things without thinking twice because they've done it every single morning, kind of thing. And the other thing is like I had zero idea that I was going to be in a wheelchair. I'd never seen anyone in a wheelchair before my accident and my mom and dad were also given. They were literally just told, oh, she'll never walk again, and that was kind of it. And I just think, if I'm able to share my story and oh gosh, god forbid, oh, it never happens to anyone but if there was a parent and it was to happen to them, they might be a bit more like okay, well, she'll be okay, or he'll be okay, they'll be okay, because I've heard this or I've seen this on telly and I've seen. And I'm not meaning sport, I'm meaning just, you know, I'm alive and thriving. Yeah, and I think that would be really important because my mom and dad were just told she'll never walk again and given no more advice, and sent home. So it was like I think it was harder for them in the first moments than it was for me. But yeah, so I.
Speaker 2:It was the December of 2010 and I was meant to be doing my exams at school and my best friend had come over to study and we got snowed in. So it was like just fantastic. I loved it. And then I was getting to play every day on the farm and help my dad out, and on that morning my dad was just clearing up the snow with like a telehandler, like a forklift sort of thing, and for some reason I genuinely have no idea why I thought this would be a good idea. I started to walk in front of the forklift, just really trying to put them off, and then I just jumped on to part of it like underneath, where the art of the main arm comes in, which is something I'd never done before. I was never allowed to go anywhere near machinery. I was never allowed to touch it. My dad used to say, like machinery has no mercy for human life, like he'd be, like it doesn't care if I hurt you, just don't be there, don't touch it. So yeah, it's something that I would have no idea. No idea why I thought it'd be a good idea. But, yeah, I jumped on and I was just showing off to to my friends and laughing away and I was. I was certain that my dad had seen me jump on, but he became very clear quite quickly that he obviously hadn't seen me jump on and start to just lower the shovel down and continue to do his job and unfortunately, yeah, the, the pressure and everything went straight down my spine.
Speaker 2:I still remember, like the feeling. I remember feeling the pressure on the top of my neck and being like dad, and I remember doing this like, almost like manic laugh, because I was like, ah, because I thought he was joking. My dad was quite bad for taking things too far with the child, so I was like he's just joking. And then I was like dad, dad, dad, and I remember just like the sheer panic, thinking, oh, my God, I'm going to die. And just in that feeling like before you know, before that I couldn't, didn't feel much pain at that moment. It was just like guilt and because my dad loves his job and my dad loves me, and I'm about to take two of those things away from him right now by doing something so stupid in the moment and not thinking twice about it was that your first thought?
Speaker 1:was that your major thought? At the time you felt that girl.
Speaker 2:I remember because I remember at one point it to me it went in slow motion and when I've watched dad use the, the telehandler and forklift he is very quick, but to me it was so slow like I just remember my head just like move, it like my obviously my whole spine was just being crushed and my head at one point was like in my crotch and I remember just just being like okay, and I remember closing my eyes, just thinking okay, are you going to die now?
Speaker 1:And how did you not? That's extraordinary in a way, how you didn't die, I know yeah.
Speaker 2:So like obviously after the accident they had to bring insurance and stuff in and they had to almost like put a dummy into the space that I was in. And the guy was like we have no idea how you survived this. And actually one of the doctors said to me that it was quite probable. The reason I did survive it was because I'd done gymnastics from such a young age and I was so flexible so that almost like my spine could take actually quite a lot, and because I could squeeze into quite a small ball and my muscles and ligaments were quite loose because of gymnastics. And he reckons that might be something that kind of saved me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember my dad bringing the bucket back up and my eyes. It felt like my heart was beating in my head, like that adrenaline rush of like I need to get out now. If I'm going to get out, I need to get out now. I remember sliding myself forward. I remember looking down at my feet because it felt weird, but it wasn't like I could still move them, but I couldn't feel them at all, and so like I jumped down and landed in the snow and I remember being like this is so strange. I was like I need to start running. So I just kind of like ran forward and then I slipped and I fell. And that's when my dad's like seen me obviously slip and fall on the ground and he thought I just slipped and fell and everyone kind of came, he hadn't seen.
Speaker 1:At that point, he still hadn't known my friend had, and so she'd obviously seen me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it happened to me because she was walking alongside which I should have been doing too. Yeah, as I kind of like lay there in the snow, I just I knew instantly, instantly that I'd broken my back and I wasn't gonna walk in and I don't know why, because, again, I hadn't, I hadn't really I knew, so I could feel. I turned, I put my hand by my back and I could feel the bone, um, and I remember feeling it and being like, oh god, you've really really. And I remember looking down at my feet and not feeling them. So I just kind of, I guess I put two and two together. That you know.
Speaker 2:Obviously I understood what the spinal cord was and I understood that that that was very sore and you're probably not going to get away with this one. There's going to be some sort of consequence to this one. And then, yeah, after that I was kind of just sent to the spinal unit. Well, I was. I spent my local hospital first and obviously got all the tests and everything done, and then helicoptered through to the local spinal unit in Glasgow and spent six months there doing rehab. Wow.
Speaker 1:Well, just the way you say, six months there. But as a 14-year-old girl I mean just that. How did you cope with that, both mentally and I guess that whole your family, the impact on your family, on your dad.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that whole your family, the impact on your family, on your dad, yeah, I think like six months it was. That was pretty hard because obviously I just turned yeah, I was 14 in December, turned 15 in the December. You're at that age where you're starting to do some parties and you're starting to go out with your friends and I was like seeing what they were doing but I wasn't able to do it and you kind of think maybe I'll never be able to do that and that was quite. That was probably the hardest part was just kind of seeing everyone else move forward, where you're like it's almost. I feel like the way I explain a spinal injury to everyone is like it's like being born again, but you have all the added frustrations that you already have learned it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you remember how easy it was to get out of bed in the morning and now everything just takes so much longer, especially at the start. I remember having to dress myself for the first time and someone giving me some leggings and I'm like how do I do this when I can't lift my bum off it? Like, how am I even just rolling and rolling around in the bed and thinking this is, I'm just gonna have to be naked for the rest of my life because I'm never gonna be doing this. So it's awful, but obviously eventually you do. But yeah, mum and dad were probably two hours away from Glasgow and I was in an adult's hospital and it's not a normal hospital, it's a rehabilitation hospital, so mum and dad were only allowed once. I was obviously into the actual rehab side of the hospital. Mum and dad weren't allowed up through the week. They were only allowed up for the weekends and I was 14. And I had to do my own washing.
Speaker 1:And I had to, and that was the closest person in age with me and how do you feel that's impacted? It's almost like having met you and I don't know you well, but I met you over the years. How do you feel that has impacted you as the person now, because it's such a formative time? I've got three kids. I've been through that age myself, that key time of 15 to 16 and so on, and then not having that parental you know, home life yeah, I think I grew up pretty quickly because I realized what I found funny.
Speaker 2:All these older people in the in the hospital didn't find us funny. So I am, yeah, I had to kind of grow up quite quickly and just learn to be this, this new me, and I didn't cry very often. Um, I don't think I actually cried until I got out of hospital about my accident, which is probably quite strange. But I feel like in hospital I was so aware of how lucky I was because you know, you're in a ward of 10 other people.
Speaker 2:Some people are can't even breathe for themselves, some people can't move their arms or talk or do lots of stuff. So I automatically felt really quite lucky that the only thing I couldn't do was move my legs. I think they were kind of unsure whether they were going to send me to the children's hospital or the um adults hospital, and I think I'm glad they sent me to the adults hospital because I imagine it would have been the other way, right, I probably would have been one of the older ones in the children's also. That probably would have been quite weird. But yeah, I feel like I just kind of adapted pretty well. I was quite aware quite quickly that I was one of the lucky ones and I just had to get on with it.
Speaker 1:I feel like I'm asking you the same in terms of your working with a sports psychologist, but did you have therapy? Was there support in terms of your mental well-being through your rehabilitation?
Speaker 2:yeah, no, we had, um, we had like someone that had to do like a assessment on us when we first came in and then before you left, but he, we didn't go on very well I think he told me, um, he was like, so how often have you cried? And I was like I haven't, I've not cried yet. And he was just like, oh well, if you don't cry now, then it'll hit you when you get to about 50 and you'll be depressed. And I was like great, thank you, thanks for that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I think a lot of people were very confused by the way I dealt with it, which is just because that's, you know, I was brought up quite aware of consequences and it seems quite strange, but mom and dad worked incredibly long hours and so quite often nobody was in the house and you know I was left to set my alarm at night, make sure I got up in the morning, get on the school bus myself, and if I didn't, you know my dad were never forceful with even like studying or anything like that. They were just kind of like it's your life, but if you fail, then you feel like it. They were, yeah, quite quickly aware of like consequence if I stood the wrong place in the lamb and shed and got smacked by a lamb, dad was like well, there's a consequence to every action. So I think I just kind of put that head on as soon as I kind of realized that this was quite serious and obviously as well. You know, when my mom and dad came in to like speak to me about what happened, my mum was just screaming and crying and my dad couldn't even look at me and I knew in that moment, like if I start crying they'll never stop. So I just kind of need to get going and I never, ever want my dad to blame himself for for being part of it, and that's, you know, people always ask me that as well. Like, how does your dad feel? I'm like I'm sure he feels pretty rotten. No parent would even want to be involved in any way, let alone actually be driving the, the vehicle.
Speaker 2:So me and my dad talk about it a lot, which is I think it's really good and I think it's changed my, my family and my dad a lot. And my dad would say that you know he obviously is a farmer, you have ridiculous long hours, but his life was farming too much. You know he was lucky that I enjoyed being on the farm, or I would never have spent any time with my dad. He was over the weekend and was speaking to him about it. I mean we're talking about sports days because obviously it's different sports days and things. Just now and dad said one of his biggest regrets is he never watched me on sports day and you like after my accident he was like, okay, yeah, you actually could have died and I would have had all these regrets. Now I can't get rid of him. He comes to every single race and I'm like dad, I'm nearly 30, you need to leave me alone now.
Speaker 2:But you know, I think, thankfully it changed our, our family positively, because I know it can put a lot of strain on on families and on relationships and that sort of thing, but because I never blamed them and I never, ever will, um, I think that helped it's interesting.
Speaker 1:A couple of my friends are from Yorkshire, farming families way back when they live locally here, and one of them particularly has that really grounded. This is as it is. I do wonder whether there's almost that when you experience life, a life and death, and you know everything in between on a farm life, whether that it's my, it's a very small straw pole of two women that I knew that grew up in that environment, but very grounded. Matter of fact, this is as it is. Uh, yeah, yeah. Of all the friends I have, yeah, yeah, that's how I was.
Speaker 2:I was very much like okay, because, honestly, of course, there was nights where I'd lie there and I think, oh gosh, why, why has this happened to me?
Speaker 2:I remember going down the route of sometimes being like did I know something really bad in a past life that then has made this is what happened to me, but I think it was a realization that I had one night and I can. I was like I can sit here every night before bed and be annoyed of why did I do that. The frustration of now look how it's left me. What if I never get to do this? What if I never get to that? And I can sit there and wallow, but tomorrow morning I'm going to wake up and I'm still going to be paralyzed. But there's nothing I can do about that. All I can do now is just like make sure that I give myself every opportunity to succeed in something, and I was just so, so lucky that I found sport and found something that I love doing and I was able to push myself in and and that I was good at as well and how did you find wheelchair racing?
Speaker 1:what was it that kind of drew you to it or introduce you to it?
Speaker 2:so I found it through when I was in the spinal unit. So they were really, really great. My, my physiotherapist, claire, was actually honestly the best woman. I put everything down to her. You know how able I am. People are always saying to me gosh, you're so able. And I'm like, because she spent so much time with me and effort and wanted me to be as able as I could. She, I remember asking me do, do you like sport? And I was like, yeah, I love sport.
Speaker 2:But again, I grew up in an era where I didn't see women doing sport. I'd done gymnastics, I'd done hockey, I'd done rugby, I played lots of sports, but I never knew I could be a sports person. I was never. I didn't know that was a job. I'd never watched a woman compete on the telly, so I didn't know that was something that I could even be or do. So it wasn't in my realms of thinking at all. So when she was like, yeah, like did you? I was like, yeah, yeah, I enjoyed being active. Yeah. So she was like, sent me down to the spinal unit games, which is something that happens. It's Willpower, who's the charity kind of run it, and it's in Sokman and Avobar each other, and the way you compete is that you literally get a sheet with all the different sports on it and you work your way around and you get ticked if you've tried everything. And so I was literally trying everything and I remember just being in awe of all the sports that could be adapted, which seems so stupid, because of course they can be. There's no reason for things not to be adapted. It's actually very simple, but I just I'd never seen it and I didn't realize it was going to be. You know, it was going to be. Something I was going to be able to take part in again was the sport. So, yeah, I tried tennis and badminton and rugby and curling and fencing and table tennis, and yeah, I literally tried every sport.
Speaker 2:And then it was the last morning we were going to try athletics and I thought that was the one. I really didn't understand how they were going to get me to do athletics. I remember just being like I can't run, I'm not sure what you're expecting from here. And I went down and there was this girl her name was Nikki Emerson and she was going around on the track and she's in a silver chair with pink stars. I still remember it so clearly and I was watching her go around and I remember just thinking she's cool, like I remember her back muscles and our biceps and just been like, yes, that's who I'm going to be. And that was it.
Speaker 2:Like I was honestly just like from watching someone I was hooked and I got into um Tana Gray Thompson's husband's racing chair, which Ian Thompson so he was the first one to put me in a racing chair at that Salt Mandeville Games and he was like to me you know, I think you could be good at this and obviously I'd had something pretty traumatic happen to me. So for anyone to say you could be good at this, I was like I'm taking that and running with it, thank you. So that was it. I literally got home to my dad and I was like, right, I have a plan now, but again, still not thinking that it was going to be a job, I was just more.
Speaker 2:It was nice to be doing something that I was with people that were, that were the same as me, and that's kind of why I fell in love with wheelchair racing. To start with you, my first ever race was London Mini Marathon and I think at some points I thought it was just going to be me on the start line, because there's not that many of us in Scotland and I went down and there was just like there was like 60 of us and just looking around and being like this is so cool. And obviously that was. That was year 2012, so it was like Jade Jones I was racing with and she literally went to London 2012. And I remember just being like that's mental, like this is so cool. So I was absolutely hooked by them.
Speaker 1:And how easy was it to find a coach, to get a chair, to have a chance to train. You talked about those lovely country lanes to train in, but how easy was that for you when you got back from the hospital?
Speaker 2:Again, I have to put it all down to Claire, my physio. I literally came back and I was like this sport's cool and she'd done all the research, found Red Star and Ian Murfin and Janice Eaglesham like she literally out of her hours came and picked me up one night, took me to the track when they were training and I got to have a little look at me, ian. And then she took me to another tasting day as well, like taster day, to try different sports. But she knew Ianan and janice were going to be there too, so I got to meet them again and then, yeah, start to raise some money for a race into him. I think that's one thing. I'm really lucky that I come from such a small area that everyone knew about my accident and everyone wanted to help. So people were quite happy. Small businesses were giving me, you know, a couple hundred pound here and there, which was, you know, went a long way. So I managed to get my get my first racing chair at the start of 2012.
Speaker 1:And what's her full name? Your physio? I feel we should give her a shout out, because she sounds like an extraordinary woman.
Speaker 2:She is an extraordinary woman. Well, it was Claire Lincoln, but I don't. She married, she is. She's still got it as Claire Lincoln on her Facebook, so we'll go with that.
Speaker 1:That's amazing, isn't it? What an incredible impact one person can have and I guess that ripple effect then on you and then all the impact you're having for other kind of young people to see what you've achieved, and so on. Through what? Through that one person's actions.
Speaker 2:It's amazing, isn't it yeah, I think, I think that sometimes all you need is you need that one person to believe in you. You know that one person that you respect because she spent six hours a day for six months with me, which is a long time. So, you know, she got to know me very well and, yeah, it was nice to have the support from someone that wanted to me to be as able as I could be and at what point did you realize that you could make a career of, or take it very seriously, from that mini marathon in 2012?
Speaker 2:so I kept racing. I just raced, like in Britain in 2012 and then in 2013. My coach was like right, I think we should get you classified, which every para-athlete needs to get done, so that you can race against people with the same injury level or disability as you. So I got sent to, we went to Dubai, which was very exciting, and I got classified over there as a T53. And quite quickly, because I was classified as a T53, it meant that I could be on funding. So I feel like as soon as that kind of happened, I was a bit like oh, is this a job? What's happening here? And then, as soon as I was put onto funding, you kind of then start going to all the GB days and learning all about that and learning all about that and figuring out that if I actually want this to be my career, I just need to keep training harder and start winning some medals.
Speaker 1:And what is it you think that makes you such an amazing athlete fastest in the UK in terms of wheelchair racing? Do you look and think? Obviously you're determined and you train hard, but are there other elements do you think that have made you have that success?
Speaker 2:My dad says it's farm strength. I don't know. I don't know what it is. I was always active. As I said, if I was ever going to be grounded, my dad didn't take anything off me, it was you're not going outside and I would be in the sobs. I'd be like you can't do that to me. What am I supposed to do in this house?
Speaker 2:I've always been into just running around and playing and yeah, so I feel like that's just kind of put me in good stead and transferable. You know, being doing gymnastics and being flexible. Obviously, wheelchair racing and your shoulders need to be pretty pretty good and um and strong and powerful. And I was always quite strong and powerful because, because I'd done gymnastics for such a long time, I just loved it. I loved how hard it was, like that's what I loved the most. It was like how technical it was. I love, I love things that are like technical and I used to just train with like loads of mirrors around me and try and get the push perfectly. I'd watch races and races over and over again on YouTube and I don't know I don't really know still why how I got so fast so good it's really interesting.
Speaker 1:it's interesting almost that you don't know, but obviously there is that science behind it and the technicality and the understanding you went on to make your Paralympic debut in Rio in 2016. So what do you remember about that Paralympic experience?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was mad. Obviously, I got to go to Commonwealth Games in 2014, so I'd already experienced the village. So I'd already experienced the village, but that was obviously it wasn't just disabled people, so I think there was only yeah, there wasn't very many disabled sports. It's not like you were just surrounded by lots of wheelchairs or anything. When you go to Paralympics, you realise this must be a logistical nightmare, but they make it work and I don't know how they do it, but it's absolutely incredible and it's like a little village where you don't need to worry about accessibility. For me anyways. I know that you know some. You know having different impairments is still very difficult, but for me it's just like a little accessible village, a perfect place. Yes, a perfect little village for me, spending time with all my training partners and doing that sort of thing. But I remember I think Rio was the first time that I was like really nervous. I'd done races and I'd done Commonwealth Games, but again, I had really hadn't been doing it very long. I mean, I was still ill in the morning. I remember in 2014. But when I got on to the start line, I didn't feel very nervous at all. I was kind of okay about it, um, whereas in Rio people take it a lot more seriously because that is possible level and everyone wants to win. So nobody's talking to you and it's terrifying. And I was just literally thought I was trying to convince my coach in the morning that I should go home because I'm ill and he was like just nerves. And I was like these can't be just nerves, I actually feel awful. My heart was like pounding, I was like sweating. Yeah, it was a really weird feeling and I definitely didn't do as well as I wanted to do in the first few races. And then I remember getting to my 800 and I think I was ranked like 10th in the world, so didn't know if I was going to make the final. And I remember my coach just saying like just throw everything at it.
Speaker 2:And I remember I didn't want to leave my first games, not feeling like I'd achieved what I wanted to achieve. I think I came fifth in the 100 meters and probably should have come fourth from where my standing was. I got disqualified in the 400. And I was just like I can't leave like this, like I can't, I need to do better and yeah, I absolutely just went for it in that 800. And I remember tasting blood at the end I tasted blood within about 200 meters and and personal best, which was amazing, like that was my first record. I had to do it in a Paralympic you know heat as well and then I went on to the final and I got another PB and I think I came fifth in the end, which for me at that time I was gosh. I was so happy.
Speaker 2:And I remember saying to my dad like, like, after the races I sat with him to watch the girls that I just like watched, well, raced with sorry, and I watched them get their medals. And I remember just turned to my dad and be like, one day that'll be me. One day that's that's gonna be me. And I feel like I'm so lucky that I was able to go to games where there wasn't any expectation and I did just get to go out there and have fun.
Speaker 2:I mean, mean, I was terrified and I felt like I'd inhaled the Sahara Desert every single time I went out into the stadium. But it was an incredible experience and my best friend came, my mum and dad and my coach's wife, janice, came, and loads of people come and support me all the way to Rio, which is mad, and it was just like a really nice thing to share with other people, because we didn't know about the Paralympics. Really, obviously, we watched London 2012,. But it's very different being there and my mum and dad actually watching me there. Yeah, it was a very surreal thing where it was like, okay, no, no, this has ignited something.
Speaker 1:And how has that evolved then through to Tokyo and then Paris, was that experience very different? I guess Tokyo was different on many levels, wasn't it? It was pretty awful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I struggled with Tokyo a lot because, as I say, I'm not the most competitive person in the world. So when I am racing, what I love most in the world is people there, and I remember winning my first Paralympic medal and looking up and being like this is sad. And then phoning my dad. They had a big marquee in the garden and all their friends right. They were having a lovely time and I was like I'm not even gonna see you for another. Yeah, I was just like gosh, that's, this is not how I thought I'd ever. Yeah, and it's not like we could even go out. We were literally had to stay in the village and spit in a tube every morning and it's just, it was. Yeah, it was pretty, pretty horrible and I feel bad for any athlete that that was their one and only games.
Speaker 1:I was going to say that it's tough. If you then didn't, at least you then had the opportunity in Paris to have family and on a good time zone and everything as well too for people to watch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, yeah. So Rio was amazing because just the culture and everything was just so incredibly different to what I'm used to. Tokyo not so much Again, just more learning curves, though. But Paris was amazing. It was just so cool, the city done it so well. The crowds were so loud, like deafening loud, because they said the way that the stadium was made was like so all the sounds came straight into the track and it, honestly, was like it was actually deafening the noise. It was incredible. So that was really fun to be able to be a part of that.
Speaker 1:That's lovely. I was there for the rugby sevens actually, so the same. But you're right, just like a cauldron of noise, it was amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, everyone was up for it and that's why it was so cool and even the locals were pretty excited by it and yeah, it was fun.
Speaker 1:And how do you define success? And obviously we've talked to her, didn't we? That gold medal, but across your career, has that definition changed for you? Do you think in terms of what success looks like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think success is just happiness. I don't think success should ever be pinned on to anything specific, because I think that's a really dangerous place to live and I think that's that's. That's what I've learned is that as long as I'm happy and as long as I will be happy after, then I think that's success.
Speaker 1:And I was going to move on to talk a bit about your TV career. But we love you on Country, absolutely love you on Country Far. So I wonder how did that come about and how you found that. Did it feel like a very natural? Clearly you've been in that world of the farming world for so long, but in terms of being in front of camera and talking, how was that for you?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I got contacted when I was on holding camp, of course, in some training camp somewhere. And yeah, they contacted me and I just done like a little meeting with them and they asked if I would fancy doing a guest presenting slot. And I was like, yeah, they contacted me and I just done like a little meeting with them and they asked if I would fancy doing a guest presenting slot and I was like, yeah, that sounds incredible. I was like, you know, I've never done this before, like no idea what I'm doing. And they're like, yeah, it's fine, like we'll come down, like we'll obviously be there. This was the producers and things like that. They were like, oh, you'll have more people on, like there'd be a lot of people there to help you and support you, and that sort of thing and I was like okay, yeah, cool, but like that'll be fun and I think that's probably the proudest my dad's ever been of me.
Speaker 2:When I phoned him to tell him I'm going to go country, well, I uh, yeah. So I just kind of got that phone call and I thought it was just going to be a one-off. I didn't think it was going to be any more than that. And then I feel like I would have been a lot more on edge if that had been the case. So, yeah, literally maybe two weeks later I um well, after it'd been aired and stuff got a phone call just to ask if I wanted to be a full-time presenter. And that kind of is how that all kind of came about and happened. And yeah, it was all very surreal and I feel very lucky, um, that that they did find me and they're keeping me on. So that's really nice. But I don't, yeah, I don't find it very difficult. I don't find it anywhere near as terrifying as racing, nowhere near.
Speaker 1:It's interesting, isn't it? And I guess a bit of that is how good they are at putting you at ease and you're in your, and I love watching I think it was the last we're not so I, but you with your dad, on the farm with your dad and interact anyway. That makes me laugh. The relationship and the chat that the two of you have.
Speaker 2:It's very, that's very real and really nice to see too yeah, I feel like, um, it's probably sounded really really strange because obviously I'm the presenter, but like, I don't feel like the limelight's on me and I like that. I like that I'm getting to getting the opportunity to share someone else's story and that's what, what I enjoy doing. I love all I watch. I've not watched any Disney movies my friends hate me for it but I have watched every documentary from you know, stacey Dooley and Louis Theroux. I've watched so many. Like, I love that sort of thing, just getting to know someone and finding out.
Speaker 2:I'm naturally a curious person. I like to know about people and what they do, and especially if someone's passionate someone's passionate about stick I could sit and listen to them talk about the stick not a problem and ask questions about why. So I yeah, I don't. I don't find it too terrifying and the cameras as well, like the team are so friendly and so nice that it just doesn't. Yeah, it's not something. It's something that I really really look forward to when I know it's coming around and I don't get nervous at all for it, and how much are you doing?
Speaker 1:how much filming is there at the moment?
Speaker 2:I normally try and do like one a month, yeah, but it depends obviously how busy I am, um, but they're very good like that. Thankfully they're. You know I've not got any. I don't have to do a certain amount, um, which is very good. They just kind of ask me can you do this day? And if I can't do it, that's fine. If I can, great, um, but obviously there's times in the season where I'm like I can do more. Now, please send me, then I'll go wherever. And yeah, that's kind of how it works, which is it works really well with, obviously, sport and training.
Speaker 2:I think I've taken my race like I'd done loads before Paris, and I think there was a few people that were like, are you sure you should be doing? Like, is this not going to impact? But for me but again, because sport wasn't something I always wanted to do, I've got some, I've got another personality that I wanted to explore and I actually felt like it was like a distraction in a good way, though you know, it wasn't like I was going to the pub and drinking hundreds of pints and eating really sloppy food. I was just going and speaking to people, I was bringing my racing chair, I was training, and I've trained in every primary and up and down the country, I'm sure, and, yeah, I was still still doing all of, but it just meant that through the day I wasn't as fixated on. I've got Paralympic Games coming up. What if this is my last one? Oh, my goodness, what if I need? Like? I was just doing something completely different and, yeah, my mind was being distracted by something else.
Speaker 1:You are lovely to watch. I love watching you, and it might be that it's because you're so natural, you're in the right environment, and so on. Is it something that you, for you, and clearly other people do, because they've kept you on and keep bringing you back, but is it something that you'd like to do more of in terms of future career?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's definitely what I would like to do in the future, and so I'm just kind of like picking along at that just now. Obviously, it's going to take a long time, which is completely understandable, because nobody puts wants to put you on live tv without experience, but then how do you experience with live tv? And so that's kind of what we're trying to work out and negotiate just now and I'm figuring out how that might look in the future, which is really exciting because, yeah, unfortunately, sport isn't going to be there forever, and I've I've watched so many people continue in sport, although they're not loving it, just because they've got nothing else, and I don't ever want to be that. Or when they stop, it's terrifying. It's like an identity crisis, which I totally get, and I just I just want that transition at some point, hopefully when it's my choice, you know to me to have sort of an idea of where I'm going to go with it.
Speaker 1:We mentioned, in terms of representation and a little bit around, the Commonwealth Games, where you're kind of included, but perhaps not to the same level as and we see that, don't we, with the Diamond League events and so on, where there is some representation. How are you feeling at the moment in terms of that wider sport and representation for disability? What do you feel needs to improve still?
Speaker 2:I mean the Diamond Leagues. It's actually a joke. They frustrate me so much because even when they do invite us, where we could be on a 10 35 and the tv coverage will start at 10, 10, 40, and you just think I give us the chance and the opportunity and and the only reason we're ever going to get big sponsors is if we can actually give them something. But I, I offer. I'm like you go to companies and you say, can you sponsor me? And they go well, yeah, what can you do for me? And I say, well, I can come and talk to your company. That's kind of the only thing I can offer, because I can't wear your kit, because I can't wear the competitions that I'm on telly, because that would be the Paralympic Games, because I don't get the opportunity to race the Diamond Leagues, where you know, if I had a chance to race the Diamond Leagues, it's going to be on BBC.
Speaker 2:I could go to companies and say, well, I could put your name on the side of my racing chair. That will be on the BBC at seven o'clock on a Monday night. But I don't get that opportunity. So it makes it very, very difficult. And then, obviously, money. You know we only have lottery funding. We don't get prize money unless you're doing the marathons no other way to win prize money.
Speaker 1:So it makes it very, very difficult when you're ever not invited to any of those sort of races, which I just think that is something that they definitely could do.
Speaker 2:Has it got any better across your career, or I think it's probably kind of ebbs and flows like it. There's bits where you think, like this year we don't even have an event in the london diamond league, which is just a joke, nothing wow, yeah oh my goodness, which isn't fair. No, no, um, so so I don't think any of them. We've got one in Eugene, but none of the Brits have been invited to them.
Speaker 1:I thought it was more than that.
Speaker 2:I don't know why I thought I guess it's because it's a little bit, and then you just assume each year there's going to be more, one in Zurich and one in Lucerne, but they're just and is anybody campaigning and making noise?
Speaker 1:here? But who is out there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, johnny Peacock done a good bit, like at Paris. That was like one of the things he really tried to push when he was getting interviewed. I just think we all kind of need to stand together a bit and say right, I think we've been off. I think that at some point we were kind of offered, you know, maybe we could be part of the London Diamond League, but we wouldn't get any prize money yeah that's not fair.
Speaker 2:It's not. It's not right when you know the able bodies are winning ten thousand pounds and you can't even give us the hundred pound that you gave us last year yeah right, it's just yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's unfair, um, and it's something that I hope.
Speaker 2:I hope at some point I'll change. I really really do, because I think that we deserve it, especially with how expensive things are going in our sport. We're winning, yeah, we're doing, but yeah, it's a shame that we kind of only have that one you know, whatever the major is that year to kind of show ourselves. I mean, this year it's not even been shown on telly the World Champs.
Speaker 1:Is it not Mm-mm? Oh, my goodness, I know. Okay, again, that assumption that you assume it will be.
Speaker 2:So there'll probably be like a YouTube live Channel 4 and doing anything for it, and I don't think that's just to blame for Channel 4. I think it's the IPC and everyone else involved that you're not pushing it hard enough and trying to get as much coverage as possible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, in a while we'll be talking about inspiration and all the amazing things that you're doing and then actually, if people aren't able to kind of see that and celebrate that, that is so disappointing, isn't't it? I know that you clearly you're an amazing role model, especially for young people with disabilities. As you say, what do you hope your impact, your visibility could have for that next generation and and I guess, people of all ages it's not just young people, is it?
Speaker 2:yeah, exactly, people of all ages. But I think for for young people, I hope that me, you know, they can see me and know that anything's possible. And because I think, as a kid with a disability, when you're faced sometimes so many obstacles, you can think that things aren't possible, and I would hate that. I'd hate to think that there's a child sitting one day and thinks, you know, because they can't get into their school on their own, they're never going to amount to anything, or if that's something they've overheard or if that's something you know. I hope that seeing myself on the screen, you know, not even just doing sport, but doing country fowl, doing, you know we're entitled to have every opportunity, just like everyone else, um, so you know, I hope, hope that and I hope for for everyone, um, I hope I can show, like, the power of sport.
Speaker 2:It's something I really try and show my friends because I think it's really difficult, as a woman especially. You know we've done sport at school and then you leave and if you're not part of a team it's quite hard to keep going and a lot of my friends are like I'd love to go to the gym, but I'm terrified, I don't know where to start and I just think that's so sad. I think you can't really be bothered to do this, but I always feel better after I have. Yeah, oh, I always do, and it's just like it doesn't have to be going out and running as fast as you can, it's just going out for a walk and I think it really changes and elevates people's emotions and mental health. And because it does mine, I know I know how much it helps mine.
Speaker 2:If I was trapped inside all day, every day, I would go stir crazy. I know, I know I would. But I think, especially as the warmer months and stuff, I think just people just to get out and I think that's what Contra Fowl shows really nicely is all these places you can go in Britain that are just full and peaceful for people to actually just enjoy that. So, yeah, hopefully I can show people that anything is possible.
Speaker 1:Just finally looking back on your journey so far. But from your injury, your Paralyic gold, your TV presenting and everything else in between, what do you feel you're most proud of? I know there's a lot more to come in the future, but what do you feel most proud of today?
Speaker 2:I think I'm just really proud of the person I'm becoming Overall, I would say, in my personal life. I managed to buy a house, which is incredible. I'm married, which is incredible, and I'm married, which is, you know, amazing. I've managed to, like, conquer quite a lot of what I've wanted to achieve it by this point which, gosh, I'm so so grateful for because I, you know, I've just been so lucky and been given opportunities and I've never said no and just kind of run with them and taken on everything that, you know, I don't think there's even one moment I could pinch at.
Speaker 2:I mean, I mean crossing that line in Paris and knowing I'd done it and knowing that, you know, if I never do it again I'd done it and having my dad standing there just crying, and you know that that lap where I had to go to see, like I had 25 of my friends and family, that moment was amazing, you know. And especially after the race, they all stood up on like the just outside the stadium, and I went up to see them and just everyone screaming and running and spent sharing that that moment with with everyone else. You know the people that have kept me sane. That moment is something I'll remember for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1:Thank you to Sami for speaking so openly about her story and what we can all do to ensure sport is more inclusive for everyone. I'm excited to follow her career on and off the track in the years ahead. If you'd like to hear from more extraordinary women like Sami, there are over 200 episodes of the Game Changers that are free to listen to on all podcast platforms or from our website at fearlesswomencouk. My guests have included elite athletes like Sammy, along with entrepreneurs, broadcasters, scientists, agents, journalists, ceos all women who are changing the game in sport. Other Paralympic champions have included Ellie Simmons, tanni Grey-Thompson, sarah Story, lauren Steadman and Anne Wafula-Streich. As well as listening to all the podcasts on the website, you can also find out more about the Women's Sport Collective, a free, inclusive community for all women working in sport. We now have over 13,000 members across the world, so please do come and join us.
Speaker 1:The whole of my book Game On the Unstoppable Rise of Women's Sport is also free to listen to on the podcast. Every episode of Series 13 is me reading a chapter of the book. Thank you once again to Sport England for backing the Game Changers and the Women's Sport Collective with the National Lottery Award, and also to Sam Walker at what Goes On Media, who does such an excellent job as our executive producer. Thank you also to my brilliant and talented colleague, kate Hannan at Fearless Women. At Fearless Women, you can find the Game Changers podcast on all platforms, so please follow us now. You won't miss out on future episodes. Come and say hello on social media, where you'll find me, at Sue Anstis on LinkedIn and on Instagram. The Game Changers Fearless women in sport.
