Quote of the Week

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.  

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Paralympic Athlete Highlight

Jon-Allan Butterworth (Great Britain)

 Sport: Cycling

Jon-Allan Butterworth joined the RAF in 2002 and served in Afghanistan in 2005 and Iraq in 2007 as a SAC(T) Weapons technician. During this tour of Iraq, he was involved in a rocket attack and was operated on by doctors in a battlefield hospital who carried out an above the elbow amputation of his left arm.

During 2008 he became involved with the Help for Heroes Big Battlefield Bike Ride, a 350 mile cycling challenge around the battlefields of Northern France to help raise funds to benefit other injured servicemen and women.

Following  this experience and watching British cyclists in the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 Jon-Allan attended a British Cycling Development Programme and was accepted onto the British Paracycling Programme in January 2009.

Aged 26-year-old from Sutton Coldfield,Jon-Allan made his international debut at the 2011 World Championships in Italy, winning gold in a world record time in the kilo event in his C5 category.

He retained his title at this year's World Championship in Los Angeles, again setting a world record.

At London Paralympic Games 2012, Jon-Allan will see his kilo event being factored. This means he will be going head-to-head for a Gold medal against his fellow GB team-mate Jody Cundy who will be competing in the C4 category. Only one of them can take the Gold medal - determined by which rider is closest to the world record for their class.

Quote of the Week

“The most important thing in life is to stop saying 'I wish' and start saying 'I will.'
Consider nothing impossible, then treat possiblities as probabilities.”  

Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

Armed Forces Day 2012

Paralympic Athlete Highlight

Hannah Russell (Great Britain)

Sport: Swimming

At 15 years, turning 16 years in August, Hannah Russell’s Paralympic debut will see her as one of the youngest member of the GB Paralympic Team. Her selection was a surprise to her as she was originally focused on training for the 2016 Games in Brazil.

Following on from last year’s European Championships in Berlin where she won silver in the 100m backstroke and bronze in the 100m butterfly, she has continued to shine in the recent British Paralympic trials. At these trials she amassed five qualifying times including setting a European record in the 100m backstroke.

Quote of the Week

“Know me for my abilities, not my disability.”

Robert M Hensel

Guinness World Record Holder for the longest non-stop wheelie in a wheelchair, covering a total distance of 6.178 miles.

Paralympic Athlete Highlight

Will Bayley (Great Britain)

Sport: Table tennis

Currently ranked Number 1, Will Bayley is a definite contender for a Gold Medal in the London Paralympic Games 2012.

He made his debut aged 20 years in Beijing and narrowly missed out on a medal position.

Will Bayley was born in Poole, Doreset and was born with a condition called Arthrogryposis affecting all of his limbs. When he was 7, he was diagnosed with cancer and underwent chemotherapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London.

In 2009, Will was ranked 3^rd in the world and has steadily moved up in the rankings through wins in the European Championships in Croatia last year. He is now top of his class seven rankings.