London 2012 blog

This week saw unprecedented media coverage of a woman who has come to symbolise how far Paralympic sport has progressed in the last twenty years.

You could hardly pick up a paper or magazine and not see the smiling ‘demure’ face of the girl of Korea 1988 who had become such a famous woman, Tanni Grey-Thompson.

What is unknown is that from those early days it could have gone so terribly wrong.

Her first Paralympic Games, Korea ’88 were my third as Chef de Mission and I looked on concerned as I saw her fall-in with the roughs of the team, the field-eventers. I think they felt they were being paternal but in those days their principle performance enhancers were booze and fags. Not a good example for an impressionable young girl….or was it?

Harris, Gill, Hallam, Baker, Jones et al all learned in four years that their approach was flawed, changed their ways and went on to be great athletes and medal winners in ’92.

What Tanni picked up from them was not the booze and fags, I’m pleased to say, but not to suffer fools: which in their language meant anyone associated with Team Management and particularly the Chef de Mission.

She was a quick learner as I remember painfully the tongue wagging I got on arrival at Heathrow after Barcelona when her track chair failed to appear and she was racing in two days……ouch!

Thursday night last week was the start of four days of roller coaster emotion for her. For weeks she had been at the centre of our attention, with the ground already prepared as I said by the press the previous week.

She held her own ‘thank you’ dinner for about 100 people at the Imperial War Museum in Salford.

I felt privileged to be on the guest list: it just shows you that the athletes do mature and get a balanced view of the world eventually – you just have to be patient and wait 20 years for it to happen (joke!).

It was a great night and the only negative aspect was looking around the room and seeing my associates of the past generation all looking old which says something about me too...

Saturday brought the Nationwide Awards Ceremony at the MICC in Manchester in front of many of the PWC athletes, their support staff, a wide range of representatives of UK sport, sponsors and their guests.

Not surprisingly Tanni held centre stage with Steve Redgrave as she was 'inducted' as a disability sport 'ambassador': something she has been doing for years without the title.

It was a great night with great attention to detail: there was even a copy of the dinner menu on every table in braille. Tanni disappeared fairly soon, as Sunday was to be her big day.

Of course everyone was waiting for Sunday and 16.35hrs – her last international race. My home town Manchester was its beautiful welcoming self – raining, cold, windy.

But the crowds came and were not disappointed to see some excellent times and distances including a world record or two and an absolutely stunning 200m with Ian Jones (GBR) and the now world famous Oscar Pretorius.

Ian must have felt he had it won at 160m but Oscar was only in second gear: he shifted up a gear and screamed past Ian winning by yards. What a phenomenon!

For some Tanni’s 200m was a bit of an anti-climax. She did not scream home for the gold but came in second. For me and I hope for her it was fitting.

Had she won she might have had regrets about Beijing. Now she knows for sure it was the right time to say farewell to the track and dedicate her energy and passion to other matters Paralympic.

Tanni in lane 7:



This is not the last we will hear of this Dame – in the months and years ahead as we prepare for 2012 she will be advising us and promoting Paralympic sport all over the world.

I am sure that, as in her athlete days, if she finds us wanting she will need no prompting to point it out.