GB ARE THE WHEEL DEAL
Rugby heroes defy odds to beat USA and claim first ever team gold
There will be many more British golds and records at these Paralympics but none will resonate quite like the triumph of the wheelchair rugby team who, against great odds, delivered the first gold in a team sport in the Games’ 61-year history.
It was not just the individual stories of the players — from the Afghan military hero to the woman whose life was changed utterly by a diving accident — but the fact that the group were told five years ago that their £3million funding was being withdrawn and they had to fight to claw back £500,000.
A breathtaking victory over USA — a team of tough, seasoned operators who define the sport’s alternative name: Murderball — was vindication for that fight, team member ryan Cowling said last night.
No player seemed quite so overwhelmed by the moment of victory as Stuart robinson, a former rAF commander. he plays with a look of relentless intensity on his face yet a trace of tears played on his face when the anthem played at the end of it all.
robinson, whose two turnovers and eight tries in the final’s last quarter were pivotal to the GB gold, cited the team’s travails since 2016 as the reason, though the carnage in the place where he lost his left leg has formed the backdrop to this tournament.
‘I’ve seen what’s been going on in the news recently and I’ve been trying to focus on the sport,’ he said, in the aftermath.
‘It’s pretty unfortunate what is happening. I’ve tried not to let it affect me too much.
‘My time in the military ended a few years ago now. My focus is now on sport.’
That focus saw a victory which seemed to cut through with the public even more than the dazzling array of record British times in other sports.
It took the Paralympics out of the sphere of high level individual performance — where so many gold medal winners are streets ahead of the field — and delivered titanic collisions. The smashing of wheelchairs and the upending of players.
GB had lost to the US in a pool game. robinson declared himself hugely satisfied ‘to come back and smash the Americans.’
The arc of his own game showed the ups and downs of team sport. The match was evenly balanced going into its last quarter when his chair was smashed to the floor, allowing a US turnover and try.
That moment of calamity fired him up. ‘I tried not to let it affect me too much with the negativity,’ he said. ‘We knew the advantage that had given the Americans in the game.’
he then proceeded to turn the game GB’s way, with two of the turnovers which are critical to this sport — wresting the ball from Joe Delagrave for one. It was his work which saw GB get home 54-49.
A successful wheelchair rugby team needs a blend of robinsons — players with high standards of ball-handling dexterity, despite being confined to a wheelchair — and Cowlings — ‘low pointers’ who block and defend.
Low pointer Kylie Grimes, the only woman in the squad, did not feature in last night’s final but did play in the pool stage against New Zealand.
‘More ladies! I hope I can inspire girls to give it a go,’ she declared when asked what she hoped this might lead to.
robinson’s gold medal marked a new staging post in life that he had never expected after his vehicle was blown off the road in helmand, eight years ago. he is one of three former British soldiers injured in Afghanistan who have taken medals here.
‘I think what we’ve done shows a little bit of that military mentality,’ he said.
to break her Paralympic medal duck in the 100m and 400m. ‘I just wanted to give it a shot,’ Kinghorn said. ‘I’m fourth in the world, two places better than Rio and three places better than I was at the worlds. I am getting faster and faster. ‘Some of these girls have a lot of experience. I’m learning a lot so I guess I’ll need to come back in three years’ time and try again.’ Meanwhile, in the pool, Scott Quin was living the dream with Paralympic bronze — but then revealed how the past fortnight has been a nightmare. The 31-year-old from Edinburgh produced a late surge to grab third in the SB14 100m breaststroke in 1min:05.91sec, behind Japan’s Naohide Yamaguchi — who set a world record of 1min:03.77sec — and Australia’s Jake Michel.
But the Rio 2016 silver medallist unmasked himself as the mystery man who had been locked in his room for a week at the GB team’s pre-Games camp in Suzuka when a staffer on the same flight later tested positive for Covid. And while in self-isolation, he found out his father James has been diagnosed with prostate cancer as part of a deflating double whammy. ‘It’s been a long two weeks,’ Quin said. ‘When I came out here, I was track and traced on the plane. I had 12 sessions out of the water. ‘I’m so happy though. I have perspective on life. The last two weeks have been hell. Especially with my grandmother having a fall and taking unwell. My dad’s health has not been ideal. So all the emotions came out. I’m blown away.’