GB Chief Calls Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson’s Struggles to Paris ‘Disgrace’

ParalympicsGB chef de mission Penny Briscoe called Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson’s struggle to reach Paris 2024 an “absolute disgrace,” reflecting the challenges disabled people face daily.

Former wheelchair racer Grey-Thompson, an 11-time Paralympic champion, had to drag herself off a London North Eastern Railway (LNER) train on Monday due to a lack of staff assistance.

The 55-year-old was traveling from Leeds to London, en route to the French capital, and shared her ordeal on social media.

Asked about the incident before the Paralympics opening ceremony, Briscoe expressed her dismay: “Clearly, it’s an absolute disgrace.”

She continued, “It’s the lived experience of disabled people. Though on a daily basis, it just doesn’t get reported.”

Grey-Thompson, a crossbench peer, explained she had to crawl off the train about 15 minutes after it arrived at King’s Cross station. She later received an apology from LNER’s managing director David Horne.

ParalympicsGB has assembled a squad of 215 for Paris. Led by flagbearers Lucy Shuker and Terry Bywater, some athletes will parade along the Champs-Elysees to Place de la Concorde to mark the start of the Games.

Briscoe elaborated, “From our perspective, what we’re trying to do as ParalympicsGB is, through sport, inspire a better world for disabled people.”

“It doesn’t matter if that’s education, if that’s in life, in society – we want change and our athletes want change,” she added.

Great Britain had a strong finish in the medal table at the delayed Tokyo Games, coming second amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Covid-19 continues to be a concern, with recent positive cases among athletes like British swimmer Adam Peaty and American sprinter Noah Lyles.

ParalympicsGB athletes may still be allowed to compete in France even if they test positive for Covid-19.

Briscoe noted, “We know that Covid, like any respiratory illness, kind of goes in waves. You get little peaks and then it subsides.”

“I’m touching everything that we have no Covid in the camp. We do have protocols in place where if anyone presents with a respiratory illness, they’ll be checked out by our medical team, who are world-class,” she explained.

She assured, “If someone did have Covid, we’d ensure we get them well as soon as we possibly can.”

“We do fit-for assessments: are they fit to compete? Yes or no? And that’s our process.”

“We will not be excluding anyone with a respiratory infection from competing at the Games if they’re fit enough to go out into the field of play.”

Britain has been given a medal target of between 100 and 140 by UK Sport, following 124 podium finishes in Japan: 41 gold, 38 silver, and 45 bronze.

China has led recent Games, topping the table in the last five.

While Briscoe didn’t entirely rule out ParalympicsGB breaking China’s winning streak, she acknowledged it was unlikely, aiming instead to be the best of the rest.

“We’re very proud of what we do as a small nation. I think we punch above our weight,” she stated.

“With China, its talent pool is huge. It has a disabled population of around 65 million, which is comparable to the total population of the UK,” Briscoe said.

“When you have that talent pool to draw from, it becomes very, very difficult to compete. Their team here in Paris is huge and in athletics, in swimming they will absolutely dominate.”

“We’re very proud of what we do as a small nation. I think we punch above our weight,” she reiterated.

Source: PA Wire, PA Archive