Paralympian Horan calls it quits
Three-time Paralympian Kate Horan has announced she will be retiring from the sport of Para cycling to focus on her family and seek new challenges.
Horan made her Paralympic Games debut at the Athens 2004 Paralympics after only taking up sprinting one year earlier.
She set a world record in the Women’s 400m T44 but she missed out on a medal due to the competition format at the time.
Four years later in front of 92,000 spectators at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing 2008, Horan mounted the Paralympic podium taking silver in the Women’s 200m T44, an achievement she describes blowing’’.
A combination of factors, including giving birth to her third child in late
2011 and a serious tendon tear in her hamstring, ruled her out of selection for the
London 2012 Paralympic Games.
Not long after Horan was struggling to cope with the demands of Para athletics training after years of wear and tear on her body and Paralympics New Zealand High Performance Team advised her to switch to the lower impact sport of Para cycling.
Horan went on to win four World Championships medals in the as ‘‘mind velodrome and place fourth, sixth and eighth at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
‘‘I always thought I would be dragged away kicking and screaming from Para sport as it means so much to me. However racing recently in Cambridge I realised as I came off the track that I was done,’’ Horan said.
‘‘I always thought it would be my body that would stop me; but it is all about the mental edge and drive that is needed to compete at the highest level. I no longer have this so now is the time to retire.’’
‘‘Para sport has kept me on the straight and narrow and helped me get through so many challenges in life. I have invested 16 years of my life in Para sport but it has given me so much.’’