THE BRITS GOING FOR GOLD IN RIO
Butterworth gets all the women, now he wants to strike gold...
JON-ALLAN BUTTERWORTH is almost laughing as he says his life has become immeasurably better since losing his left arm in a rocket attack in Iraq. He knows some will be disbelieving — but he means it.
‘Losing my arm worked out brilliantly for me,’ he says. ‘I wouldn’t change anything about my injury because my life the last nine years has been absolutely mega, way better than when I was in the military. I’ve got so many options for what I want to do with my career after Rio, that’s my biggest problem.
‘So who’s more disadvantaged, a disabled athlete with loads of opportunities, or someone who’s stuck in a rut, in a job they’ve been in their whole life and just does it to put food on the table?’
Butterworth was 21 in 2007 and serving as a weapons technician for the RAF in an area of Basra known by British forces as ‘rocket alley’ when he heard a sizzling sound heading straight for where he was stood. The shrapnel from the blast tore through his left arm and, despite tying his own tourniquet to stem blood spurting from a severed artery, doctors in Birmingham were forced to amputate above the elbow.
During a period of rehabilitation he returned to work in a desk job for the RAF but was identified by a Paralympics GB talent recruitment programme and joined the Great Britain cycling squad two years later.
At London 2012 he won three silver medals although, having won a World Championship title in cycling’s mixed team sprint this year alongside Louis Rolfe and Jody Cundy, he insists he would trade them all in for one gold in Rio.
‘It sounds harsh but those medals don’t mean that much,’ he says. ‘I’ve got one in a display cabinet at home and I go to schools and talk about my achievements — and that’s great — but I don’t mind if the ribbon gets broken or frayed because they [kids] enjoy it more than I do myself. I recognise it as an achievement but there is unfinished business. ‘I wouldn’t be going to Rio unless I had a good chance of gold. I cannot race for silver. That might be the best achievement for some people but, having won at a World Championship, it wouldn’t be for me.’ There is a chance his silver medal in the C5 individual pursuit from the London Paralympics could be upgraded after it was revealed that gold medallist Michael Gallagher of Australia tested positive for the drug EPO in July. Butterworth asked Gallagher on Twitter if he wanted him to send a selfaddressed envelope for the return of the gold medal, although the tweet has since been deleted.
His outspoken manner combined with good looks and an open mind convinced Channel 4 producers to make him one of the stars of reality TV show The Jump.
‘I was so naive to the industry, I didn’t even know I was going to get paid when they approached me,’ he says. ‘I just thought it sounded amazing. But I became the first above-elbow amputee to do bobsleigh and I did the skeleton with one arm, proving you can compete against able-bodied people on a level playing field. I love being a pioneer.
‘I made some genuine friends as well, everyone from Lady Victoria Hervey at the top and born into money, to a Paralympic athlete
from a military background and everyone in the middle. There’s a big social difference between us but we genuinely got on and now we’re planning a reunion.
‘I sometimes can’t believe what my life is like now. I’d like to work in TV in some capacity in the future, whether that be more reality TV or documentary style, doing extreme sports and proving to people and the general population that disability can actually make you as a person.’
Butterworth, 30, has a 10-year-old daughter with his ex-wife and now has a girlfriend. He said losing his arm even made meeting new women easier. ‘I should write a dating advice column,’ he jokes. ‘Join the military, get blown up, lose an arm and instantly you’re elevated to war hero status, above all men around you. I get bored of telling my story but people genuinely want to hear it. I’ve seen people talking about the complete opposite, feeling low and depressed about finding it hard to date. It might be different with different disabilities but I genuinely think with the right people they don’t see the disability. I have more confidence since losing an arm than I had before.’
Butterworth created a storm of debate on the eve of London 2012 when he suggested too many Paralympic athletes outside cycling were just ‘having a laugh’ and claimed their Lottery funding was a waste of money. He suggested that cycling produced far better returns on the investment than athletics.
Four years on and he does not know whether things have got better but he again reinforced the need to be seen to be taking sport seriously. ‘We get a lot of funding and cycling is more successful than athletics in terms of the number of medals won versus money invested,’ he says. ‘It’s a factual statement but came across as if I was saying cycling is 100 times better than athletics.
‘But the argument is two-fold. If you’re seen to be having fun and not taking it seriously then how can you be treated equally to Olympic athletes? I got a certificate to say, “Congratulations on being selected”.
‘Why? I don’t see that as an achievement because I haven’t won anything yet. If some people are happy to be on the team and that’s their achievement, it’s up to them but I think that’s wrong.
‘I’m a world champion, a world record holder and I’m on the highest level of funding. If I don’t win in Rio my funding will go down. It should be a reflection of how much you put in and how much you get out, which is why I’m aiming for gold.’