Six months on from the London
2012 Paralympic Games, and of course we miss that time, but re-focus we’ve had
to do! Although for me it has never been just about London 2012.
When London was announced in
2005 as the host for the Olympic & Paralympic Games in 2012, the
performance unit within Disability Sport Wales knew then full advantage had to
be taken. On the back of a successful Paralympic Games in Sydney (2000) &
Athens (2004) we knew we had a model to develop talented athletes to enable
them to be selected for the Great Britain team.
 |
| Jordan Howe joined the DSW Academy at 9 years old, he competed in his first major games at London 2012 |
By simply adopting a talent
process, namely the Academy in 2006, we set off on a journey not just to London
but to 2016 and beyond. Over the years we have identified athletes as young as
9 years old, and gone on a journey with them. Early success was had in Beijing
with 9 out of the 15 Welsh athletes from the academy programme making the
ParalympicsGB team.
For London 2012 Paralympic
Games my target was to introduce as many new Paralympians into the team from
the Academy. Of the 38 Welsh athletes selected for ParalympicsGB, 19 were first
time Paralympians, with 18 of them coming through the Academy programme.
Additionally of the 38 athletes, 24 had received support and services directly
from the Academy programme in the last 4 year Paralympic cycle.
For an athlete it’s all about
‘stepping stones’ – building up on training regimes, competitions and
experience. Competitions are integral to the development of an athlete, and
it’s heartening to see the Paralympic competition calendar continuing to
evolve, with many more opportunities open to athletes than have been
previously.
 |
| Gerwyn with London 2012 Gold and Bronze medallist Aled Davies, who has his sights firmly set on Glasgow 2014 |
Becoming stronger within the
calendar is the Commonwealth Games, where the para-sport opportunity is growing
by each Games. Manchester 2002 was the first Commonwealth games to include Para-sport events, Wales have
reaped the rewards with medals being obtained in each subsequent Games.
Follow Gerwyn on Twitter - @gerwynowen
