Athletes

contributing to the website

Jane Blackburn

Jane was a patient at Stoke Mandeville in the 1960s where she played table tennis. She was in the UK team at the Paralympics games from 1972 - 1992, winning gold in the singles at Toronto, Arnhem and Stoke Mandeville. interview transcript 

film clip Jane, physiotherapy at Stoke Mandeville. (4.33)

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George Brogan

George was a patient at Stoke Mandeville in 1964 where he took up archery. Transcript of interview (Opens in a new window)

James Brown

James is a visually impaired runner and cyclist; coming from Northern Ireland he has competed for both Britain and Ireland at Paralympic games, most recently winning bronze for Ireland in the road time trial at London 2012. interview transcript

film clip James talking about guided running (4.02)

film clip James on the legacy of the 2012 games (4.21)

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Paul Cartwright

Paul competed at Stoke Mandeville in the 1984 Olympics in the wheelchair sprints, relays and marathon. Transcript of interview (Opens in new window)

Peter Caruthers

Peter was a wheelchair racer who went on to set up Bromakin, a UK company designing and manufacturing sports wheelchairs.Transcript of interview (Opens in new window)

Chris Checkley

Chris was a patient at Stoke Mandeville in the 1960s where she took up archery. focus group

Sophie Christiansen

Sophie started riding horses at the age of six. She has won medals in the dressage events at Athens, Beijing and London, taking gold in the last two. interview transcript 

film clip Sophie talking about winning gold at Athens (3.39)

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Danny Crates

Danny was a professional rugby player before taking up middle-distance running. He won gold at Athens in the 800 metres and took the world record in the same year. In 2012 he was a television commentator for the Paralympic Games.

film clip Danny on rugby and running (5.15)

film clip Danny on middle-distance running as an amputee (8.26)

film clip Danny, commentating for the 2012 games (3.31)

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Sir Philip Craven

Philip started playing wheelchair basketball in the 1960s and competed as a member of the GB team from the Tel Aviv games in 1968 until the European championships in 1994. He was involved in and ultimately chaired the IWBF and has been President of the IPC since 2001. interview transcript

film clip Sir Philip talking about the Barcelona Games (4.31)

film clip Sir Philip on wheelchair basketball classification (10.48)

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Tara Flood

Tara first swam for the GB team in the New York games in 1984 and went on to compete at Seoul and Barcelona in 1992 where she won gold in breast stroke. She is now the Director of ALLFIE, the Alliance for Inclusive Education, a national network led by disabled people. interview transcript 

film clip Tara, the games at New York and Seoul (2.47)

film clip Tara on the Barcelona games (7.52)

film clip Tara talking about sports classification (6.10)

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Diana Gabb

Diana was a patient at Stoke Mandeville in 1954. interview

Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson

Tanni is one of the most successful GB Paralympic athletes, having competed at 5 Paralympic Games. 

film interview1 , film interview2 ,  interview transcript  

film clip Tanni on the legacy of Sir Ludwig Guttmann (2.24)

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Tony Griffin

Tony is a Cerebral Palsy athlete who has competed in three Paralympic games, winning gold medals for javelin and club in New York in 1984.Transcript of interview 

film clip Tony on the legacy of the Paralympics (2.37)

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Ernie Guild

Ernie competed at Seoul in 1988 (where he took gold and the world record in the shot put) and again at Barcelona and Atlanta. He is currently vice chairman of WheelPower. Transcript of interview

film clip Ernie on wheelchair athletics (4.57)

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Sally Haynes

Sally was a patient at Stoke Mandeville who then competed in archery at Tokyo in 1964 and in fencing at Israel in 1968 where she won a gold medal. Transcript of interview

film clip Sally talking about wheelchair fencing (4.15)

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John Harris

John competed in many Olympic Games; he won gold for the discus at Stoke Mandeville in 1984 when he also took the world record.Transcript of interview (Opens in new window)

Chris Holmes, Baron Holmes of Richmond

Chris is a visually-impaired swimmer who won nine gold medals for Britain at four games from  Seoul in 1988 to Sydney in 2000. In 2013 he became a Conservative peer in the House of Lords. interview transcript

film clip Chris on winning gold at Barcelona in 1992 (3.39)

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Simon Jackson

Simon was a visually-impaired athlete who has competed in 5 Paralympics, winning gold in judo at Seoul, Barcelona and Atlanta before switching to Tandem sprint cycling. Transcript of interview

film clip Simon talking about visually-impaired judo (5.03)

film clip Simon on winning gold at Seoul (5.12)

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Mike Kenney

Mike swam for the GB team at four Paralympics starting at Toronto in 1976 and concluding at Seoul in 1988. He is Britain's most successful Paralympian in terms of numbers of medals, having won a total of 16 gold and 2 silver medals. Transcript of interview

film clip Mike talking about swimming in the 1970s (6.24)

film clip Mike on winning 16 gold medals at four games (2.16)

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Rainer Küschall

Rainer came to Stoke Mandeville from Switzerland for treatment in 1964. He went on to found his own company designing and manufacturing wheel chairs. He competed in Olympic games from 1968 - 1992 in table tennis and then marathon. Transcript of interview (Opens in new window)

Philip Lewis

Philip was at Stoke Mandeville in 1962-3 where he  played table tennis. He competed in Olympics between 1964 and 1974 including Tokyo and Heidelberg. He sat on the National Sports Council, was chair and president of the British Sports Association for the Disabled and is a trustee of the Poppa Guttmann Trust. interview (Opens in new window)

Martin McElhatton

Martin was a member of the GB basketball team at Stoke Mandeville Olympics in 1984. He is now the Chief Executive of Wheelpower. Transcript of interview 

film clip Martin on wheelchair basketball in the 1980s (7.57)

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Susan Masham, Baroness of Ilton

Lady Susan Masham competed in the Rome 1960 and Tokyo 1964 games in swimming and table tennis. She went on to found the Spinal Injuries Association and has sat as a life peer in the House of Lords since 1970. Transcript of interview

film clip Lady Susan talking about the 1960 games at Rome (2.14)

film clip Lady Susan on the 1964 games at Tokyo (2.04)

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Margaret Maughan

Margaret was a patient at Stoke in 1959. She was Britains first 'Paralympic' gold medallist, winning in archery at Rome in 1960. She continued in the GB team in archery and bowls until Arnhem in 1980. Transcript of interview and second interview

film clip Margaret talking about the 1960 games at Rome (7.26)

film clip Margaret on archery in the 1960s (3.20)

film clip Margaret remembering Sir Ludwig Guttmann (1.53)

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Jayant Mistry

Jayant played wheelchair tennis as a professional from 1990 until his retirement in 2007. He competed at Barcelona, Atlanta, Sidney and Athens Paralympics and won the Doubles at Wimbledon in 2005. Transcript of interview

film clip Jayant talking about wheelchair tennis (5.53)

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Peter Norfolk

Peter started playing wheelchair tennis in 1990 and went on to win gold at Athens in 2004 (the first games at which tennis was a Paralympic sport) and again at Beijing as well as winning the Australian Open. Transcript of interview

film clip of Peter talking about wheelchair tennis (4.39)

film clip Peter on professional and Paralympic tennis (6.27)

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James O'Shea

James is a leg-amputee swimmer who competed in the British team at the 2012 games. 

film clip James on the classification of leg-amputee swimers (5.04)

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Naomi Riches

Naomi is a visually-impaired rower. She competes in the adaptive mixed cox-four category and won bronze at Beijing in 2008 and gold at London in 2012. Transcript of interview 

film clip  Naomi talking about adaptive rowing (4.35)

film clip Naomi on winning gold in 2012 (6.54)

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Ian Rose

Ian took up Judo at the age of 7; he competed in the European Championships in 1989 and won the World Championships in 1995. He competed in the Paralympics from 1992 to 2008, winning Silver at Sydney and Bronze at Atlanta. interview

film clip Ian on visually-impaired judo (4.09)

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Robin Surgeoner

Robin swam breast stroke for the GB team and won nine gold medals between 1984 and 1992 at the Stoke Mandeville, Seoul and Barcelona games. interview

film clip Robin on the Seoul games (2.39)

film clip Robin on preparing for a race (3.16)

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Caz Walton

Caz has been one of Britain's most enduring and successful wheelchair athletes winning medals for swimming, racing, athletics, table tennis and fencing at games from Tokyo in 1964 to Seoul in 1988. interview transcript

film clip Caz on the Tokyo games in 1964 (3.00)

film clip Caz on the inspiration of Stoke Mandeville (4.00)

film clip Caz remembers Sir Ludwig Guttmann (3.12)

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Terry Willett

Terry competed in the GB team from 1966 in fencing and basketball and went on to become the GB team captain. At the Stoke Mandeville Olympics in 1984 he was chosen to light the Olympic flame. Transcripts of interview and second interview

film clip Terry talking about wheelchair basketball (6.40)

film clip Terry on fencing in the 1970s (8.09)

film clip   Lighting the flame at Stoke Mandeville in 1984 (4.31)

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Val Williamson

Val competed as an archer in the British team between 1980 and 1992 and won the silver medal at Arnhem in 1980. Transcript of interview 

film clip Val on archery at the Arnhem games in 1980 (4.33)

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