Military hero Sinnott fulfils dream with inspiring leap
London 2012 icon just outside medals on debut Smyth adds 200m gold to his 100m triumph ‘Long jumping for a double amputee is quite unusual – there was only two of us there’
Five years after he heroically hauled himself up a flagpole and raised the Union flag at the London Paralympics closing ceremony, Army veteran Luke Sinnott returned to the scene to belatedly realise his dream of representing his country.
Sinnott lost both legs in a horrific accident when an improvised ex- plosive device detonated while he was on duty in Afghanistan in 2010.
Invited to play a role at the London 2012 Games, he provided one of the defining images of the closing ceremony by displaying immense upper body strength to climb a flagpole and unfurl the Union flag. Having originally intended to compete at Rio 2016 as part of the British sailing squad, Sinnott, 36, switched focus to athletics two years ago and was selected to represent his country for the first time in the World Para Athletics Championships T42 long jump yesterday morning.
Things did not go quite to plan back inside the London Stadium as he overstepped his mark to record no-jumps with his first three efforts. But he pulled out a personal best 6.15 metres with his final attempt to finish fourth, just 10cm off the podium. “I’m feeling good,” said Sinnott, who was one of only two double amputees in a final contested mainly by single amputees.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself unnecessarily but that’s the beast that is long jumping. It’s a very technical sport – a millimetre here and a millimetre there and it’s a no jump. After a few bad jumps I realised that I needed to rethink my strategy and the turning point for me was getting the crowd involved.
“Long jumping for a double amputee is quite unusual – there were only two of us there. It’s hard to get that drive and that kick across the space, so for us it’s about maximum speed and big power of the board.
“I’m just going to be hitting the gym work over the winter and building the strength up again. I’m chasing that world record.”
Recalling how he came to have a starring role at London 2012, Sinnott explained: “At the time I was on the Paralympic Inspiration Programme while I was with the sailing team and I was asked if I wanted to take part in the ceremony.
“I went to Tedworth House [Help For Heroes’ main recovery centre] and they had this giant ladder on the top of a trailer sat in their garden. It looked like an old gun carriage and they said: ‘That’s the ceremony piece, can you climb up it?’ I had only been injured for two years at that point, so I was quite new in my legs.
“I thought the idea of doing it was fantastic, being so early in my injury and not being able to compete. To be part of the ceremony was great and it turned out it was on my birthday, too. So it was a great day.”
The need to undergo more than 100 hours of surgery meant he was forced to withdraw from the sailing set-up when it became apparent that he would not recover in time for the Rio Paralympics. But he was not prepared to give up on his dream altogether.
“I had made quite a lot of noise when I was serving in the forces that should the worse happen and you got injured and you lost your limbs, you had to give it a go – you needed to try for the Paralympics,” he said.
“So I looked around and thought ‘what could I also be decent at’ and
landed on athletics. I found myself down at the local school as soon as I made the decision and gave it a go, went down the run-up and took a jump. It didn’t go particularly well but I was buzzing. This is a great opportunity.”
Ireland’s Jason Smyth lived up to his billing as the world’s fastest Paralympian, following victory in the T13 100m with another gold medal over 200m. Smyth, who made the semi-finals at the ablebodied European Championships in 2010, went into the race without a single para athletics defeat since making his international debut more than a decade ago.
That unbeaten record was never threatened last night as he cruised to victory in 21.40 seconds. “It’s been incredible,” said Smyth, 30. “I just want to be the best that I can be.”
There were no medals for Britain on day five, with the host nation dropping a spot to third on the medal table behind United States and China.