By Hannah Blackwell
Welsh athletes hope the Prime Minister will heed their emphatic call to ensure disabled children have equal access to sport.
As the triumphant Great Britain team returned home from Paris with 124 medals – 49 gold, 44 silver and 31 bronze, including 22 medals for Welsh athletes – ParalympicsGB posted an open letter to Sir Keir Starmer, urging him to “act now” and establish a “clear plan from across Government with concrete steps for change”.
https://twitter.com/ParalympicsGB/status/1833052229957280217
A ParalympicsGB study found only one in four disabled children regularly took part in school sport.
The open letter read: “As Paralympians, and as disabled people, we are more determined than ever to use this platform to do all we can to prevent the next generation of children being left on the sidelines in the birthplace of the Paralympic movement.
“There are 1.5 million disabled children – 15 per cent of the school population – and it is shocking that such a large number of young people do not have the chance to participate in sport and develop and grow as a result.
“We are heartened by your support for the Equal Play campaign and we are asking you to act now to ensure every child has the same access to PE at school. Your Government has a unique opportunity to shift the dial so that by the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic Games, no disabled child faces this discrimination.”
https://twitter.com/davidweir2012/status/1833246069796282878
The letter calls for better training and tools for teachers, more emphasis on PE in the curriculum and a push to increase the number of disabled people entering the teaching profession.
One of the last medals won by Welsh athletes was the silver earned by Georgia Wilson from Abergele in the Para equestrian, on Sakura.
Wilson had already win bronze in the grade 2 individual event, went one better with silver in the individual freestyle event with a score of 79.374%.
https://twitter.com/C4Paralympics/status/1833090472300196135
She revealed afterwards: “Mum and Dad sold their motorhome, their pension and a retirement present for Suki.
“But I think she is worth her weight in gold so I don’t think they will miss the motorhome too much.”
Welsh medals for ParalympicsGB at Paris 2024
GOLD
Matt Bush (Para taekwondo – men’s K44 +80kg)
Ben Pritchard (Para-rowing – PR1 men’s singles sculls)
James Ball and Steffan Lloyd (Para-cycling – Men’s B 1000m time trial)
Sabrina Fortune (Para-athletics – women’s F20 shot put)
Rhys Darbey (Para-swimming – mixed S14 4x100m freestyle relay)
Jodie Grinham (Para-archery – mixed team compound open)
Laura Sugar (Para canoe – women’s kayak singles KL3 200m)
SILVER
Rhys Darbey (Para-swimming – men’s SM14 200m individual medley)
Rob Davies (Para table tennis – men’s singles MS1)
Georgia Wilson (Para equestrian – grade II individual freestyle)
Aled Sion Davies (Para athletics – men’s F63 shot put)
Phil Pratt (wheelchair basketball men’s team)
BRONZE
Paul Karabardak (Para table tennis – men’s doubles MD14)
Jodie Grinham (Para-archery – women’s individual compound)
Georgia Wilson (Para-equestrian – individual event grade II)
Hollie Arnold (Para athletics – women’s F46 javelin)
https://twitter.com/C4Paralympics/status/1832433644855509412