2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (Paul McAuley)
The group is competing in racing and wheelchair basketball Five athletes who train at an academy in Merseyside are representing the UK at this year’s Paralympics Games Paris 2024. The games opened earlier this week with a ceremony in the French capital that highlighted the strength and beauty of differences. As it stands the UK is in second place with a total of six medals, just a short distance behind the People's Republic of China who currently lead the table.
But the Merseyside group are hoping to return home with medals to their name and added to their country's tally. The Paralympians are known to train at Greenbank Sports Academy near Sefton Park , with Mark Palmer, the group’s sports development manager, telling the ECHO how proud he is of the squad. He said: “Greenbank is proud of its history in developing disability sport at all levels and supporting local Paralympic athletes.
It's amazing to see people who both train and work at Greenbank participate in the Paris Paralympics and we hope all of them achieve their own goals.” Below are the Paralympians representing the academy: Nathan Maguire Nathan brought back a Paralympic silver medal from the universal relay in Tokyo three years ago. The T54 wheelchair racer, who studied at Liverpool John Moores University , will compete at his third Paralympics this summer, going in the 400m, 800m and 1500m – he is the Commonwealth champion in the latter.
Nathan was paralysed from the waist down after a sudden case of Transverse Myelitis, aged just 8 As the son of athletic parents, he began wheelchair racing in 2014, debuting in that year's London Mini Marathon - his first taste of racing on a huge scale. Since then he has been training at Greenbank Sports Academy, where he is a board member, and can complete the 2.2-mile lap of the park in seven minutes 30 seconds.
Hannah Cockcroft This will be the third time that Hannah will compete alongside her boyfriend, Nathan, at the Paralympics. The two were both in Rio and Tokyo, however, this time around they had to deal with the added pressure of planning a wedding. This will be the third time that Maguire and Cockroft have competed together at the Paralympics.
But after the experiences of Rio and Tokyo, this time they have the added challenge of planning a wedding while competing at the highest level. Hannah is hoping to bring home a gold medal for the UK in the 100m and 800m races - which, to fans, won’t be a surprise after she set a world record of 16.39s over 100m in 2020.
The 32-year-old MBE holder suffered two heart attacks within the first 24 hours of her life. The first left her lifeless for 20 minutes and after the second, it was feared Hannah would not make it. As a result of the two, Hannah’s brain was permanently damaged in numerous areas causing mobility problems with her hips, feet and legs.
Abdi Jama Abdi is playing for Great Britain as a member of the wheelchair basketball ball team. The 41-year-old, who was born in Somalia but moved to Liverpool as a child, has thrown thousands of hoops at the Greenbank sports academy. This is his fifth game, with his first being in Beijing in 2008.
He has won three bronze medals so far but is hoping for a different colour to add to his impressive collection this time around. The dad-of-one became a wheelchair user at the age of 14 after an accident. He started playing the wheelchair sport in Liverpool after being introduced to it by his friend and fellow Paralympian Ade Orogbemi.
He has since travelled the world playing for clubs in Germany, Italy, Spain and on the other side of the globe in Australia. Isaac Towers Isaac has reached the final race of the T34 800m race. The 25-year-old trains on the road around Sefton Park every Saturday as well as sometimes at Kirkby Athletics Club.
Isaac has been a keen sportsman from a very early age despite being diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The racer previously spoke out about how the condition affects all his limbs - particularly his lower limbs and slightly in his upper arms. He explained how it limits the distance he can walk but hasn’t let this stop him from achieving his dreams.
Samantha Kinghorn Samantha, a TV presenter and world champion, is competing in four different races in Paris. The 28-year-old will be giving her best in the 100, 400, 800 and 1500-metre races. The Scotswoman was just 14 when in 2010, she was involved in a farming-related accident that would alter the course of her life.
She had climbed onto a forklift her dad, Neill, was using to clear snow drifts. Unable to see her, he lowered his machine and inadvertently crushed Samantha. Emergency surgery and five months in hospital followed, and the injuries to her spine left her paralysed from the waist down.
The Paralympics is being shown extensively on Channel 4..
