Dan Greaves aims to male history at the Tokyo Paralympics

DISCUS thrower Dan Greaves has his sights firmly set on making history at the Tokyo Paralympics – in a sport he regards as an “art form”.

Just two years on from an injury which could have forced him to retire, he hopes to become the first GB athlete to win a medal at six successive Games.

Greaves, who trains at Loughborough, already has a gold, two silvers and two bronzes from previous Paralympics.

“Competition should be the easy part. The hard bit is training,” the 38-year-old told BBC Radio Leicester.

“Competition should be enjoyable, you shouldn’t fear it and that’s been kind of my mantra throughout my career.”

In 2019, Greaves suffered an “excruciating” bone bruise at the top of his leg, near the hip, and had to miss the Paraathletics World Championships.

“I think I was pretty close to retiring because the consultant said I had to take six months of rest, which for an athlete is torture,” said Greaves, a former Loughborough University student.

“He said ‘If you don’t look after yourself now and calm things down, try and find a better way of training around it, then the bruising could spread and fractures could potentially occur. You might be looking at a hip replacement in the future’.”

Greaves burst onto the Paralympics scene in Sydney 2000 by taking silver in the F44 discus event, but his greatest achievement came in Athens four years later when he won gold.

“My first trip to Sydney was a real eye-opener and a massive experience, and kind of the turning point for Paralympic sport when the public really recognised disabled athletes as elite sportspeople, which we knew we were anyway,” he said.

Greaves leaves nothing to chance in terms of preparation and has been practising his throwing in the UK at 11.30am, which would be 7.30pm in Tokyo, the time of his F64 discus competition.

And he is now ready to try and find that perfect “balance between power and rhythm” which characterises the best in the discipline.

“From my perspective, throwing the discus is like an art form,” he explained.

“It’s almost like dance and it’s quite theatrical.

“Hopefully, fingers crossed I can bag medal number six and I’ll be very happy.”