Beattie steadfast in mission to inspire

“Unfortunately, the rehab was very slow. I was on crutches for two months which is very difficult when you only have one hand. Ever since then though the leg’s been fine.”

But the bad break has renewed Beattie’s resolve to add Paralympic gold to her medal tally after claiming silver at the London games and bronze in Rio.

“To be honest, before I’d broken my leg I was still tossing up whether I’d compete in Tokyo but I’m so motivated now,” she said.

“I feel super keen and want to be there again.”

Discovered in a shopping centre carpark by former coach Gary Bourne, Beattie said she would be visiting Cairns on a regular basis in a bid to encourage people of all abilities to get involved in athletics.

“My old coach noticed my arm and jumped out of his car, walked up to me and said, ‘I’m no weirdo but I’d love you to give athletics a go’,” Beattie said.

“It was totally random. The following week I was at a friend’s house who was studying exercise science and he told me he was working with an athletics coach. I asked him what his name was and realised it was the same guy. It was meant to be, I guess.

“I just think we need more athletes involved in para sport.

“I know I wouldn’t be the person I am today without it.

“Looking back, sport helped me gain confidence and be the person I am today.”

FNQ Athletics director Dayne O’Hara said having high-performance athletes around helped attract new athletes to grow the sport.

“For example, at the Challenge Games in Townsville we get 1500 athletes with a disability to that event. Of those, probably only 2 per cent are from our club system. There’s massive room for us to grow.”

After hosting the Para Pan Pacs swimming carnival in Cairns last month, Beattie said she was looking forward to joining fellow athletes for a series of camps in the Far North ahead of the Tokyo games.

“People always seem to do PBs up here. Barlow Park is a good track, there’s great weather and it’s easy to get around,” Beattie said.