Having my leg chopped off was the best decision of my life

GOLD MEDAL SWIMMING CHAMPION ALICE TAI DETAILS HER AMPUTATION SURGERY IN BRILLIANT DOCUMENTARY

WHEN Alice Tai learned the date of her amputation surgery in early 2022, she threw a “Bye, bye leg” party for friends and family.

The Paralympic swimming champion was born with clubbed feet and chronic pain affected her entire body.

Tai, possessing near-infinite positivity, was determined to have her right lower limb removed to allow her day-today freedom.

And as she explains in an uplifting but harrowing Channel 4 documentary charting her surgery and recovery: “The decision to chop my leg off was the best decision of my life.”

Heading into next week’s British championships, where she will compete in five events that serve as trials for the Paralympics, the 25-year-old says she still has difficult days, but wants to get the message out that a disability does not define a person’s quality of life.

“I’ve lived with chronic pain since I can remember,” she said. “I had my first surgery at 20 weeks.” And more than 20 have followed.

“The worst scenario from the amputation would be that I’d be on crutches for the rest of my life. But that was the position I was in prior to the amputation so I thought, ‘I’ve got nothing to lose really’.”

At one point in a documentary packed with one-liners, Tai says: “I went to hospital and came back legless.”

It neatly sums up her forthright, humorous approach to a reality that the majority of people would find traumatic.

She was always stubborn but says: “Being direct and concise is an integral part of who I am.” And that approach has stood her in good stead, though it is rare to hear a professional athlete so willing to say they are not as fit as they once were.

Tai has not been able to train with the same intensity because of increased injury risk. She had to relearn how to swim and turning at the wall between lengths took some time getting used to.

“If I kicked with my right foot, because of the angle it was at, I’d go backwards,” she said. “So it was just a dead weight in the water.

“But not having it caused an imbalance.”

Even now her starts require work. “They are pretty bad, coming off the blocks,” she said. “We’re trying to figure that out but we’ve got a few months.

“I’m not where I was in 2019 (when she won six World Championship golds in London), but I’m learning to be more efficient instead of relying on being really fit. That’s cool.”

Still, she is confident heading to the London Aquatics Centre for the first British championships that will see para-athletes integrated with the main competition.

And there is another motivation – succeeding for her grandfather, who recently passed away, and grandmother, who will watch from home.

“The last time I raced here they were poolside, so this is for them,” she added.

“They were my biggest supporters, the Bank of Nan and Grandad before I got lottery funding. They funded my dreams. I know where they sat in 2019, so after my races I’ll look up at where they were and see them at that moment.”

■ Alice Tai will be competing at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships from 2-7 April with live coverage of the event across the BBC and Channel 4