It’s the closing weekend of Paris 2024 and we’re about to enjoy the biggest moment in British Paralympic basketball history. In fact I think it’s the biggest moment for British basketball, full stop.
Britain play the USA in the men’s wheelchair basketball final on Saturday and we’ve never won gold, either men’s or women’s. What we’ve got here is something that has taken decades. It’s the work of the generation before me, my generation and those that came after and now we are here; GB and USA are by quite some margin the two best teams in the world.
So I want the whole of the UK to watch on Saturday; to support the British team, to cheer them on just like you do the England men’s football team and the Lionesses and the rugby team. We need you. We need your support. We need it because these guys have put everything into this. They’ve put their whole lives on the line for this moment.
It’s personal for me, of course. I’m connected with so many of the players, I’ve either played against them or played in the same team. Terry Bywater and I began at Sydney 2000 together. Me and Phil Pratt played wheelchair tennis doubles together and got to the final of the Lithuanian Open (a bit random, I know). He’s now one of the best basketball players in the world and on the verge of leading Britain to a gold medal.
It’s surreal, it’s emotional, it gives me a wonderful sense of pride and I also know the job isn’t done yet. But what they’re doing is representing at least five generations of British basketball players and a sport that has virtually zero recognition in the UK. And we’re taking on the USA – this is their sport.
Most of the British guys have started basketball from scratch. When they had their injuries, or they became disabled and they started to play wheelchair basketball, they had to learn how it works, how to understand it. It’s not like in America and Europe where everyone grows up playing basketball at school and learns it like a second skill. So it’s even more remarkable for our guys to be where they are.
You’ve also got to remember that so many of them have come from grassroots teams who have got next to no resources and rely on volunteers just to keep things going. So this is a proper fairytale story, a rags to riches script – we’ve come from nowhere to get this opportunity; 28 years, man, it’s been so hard.
A gold medal in basketball would cap off what has been an incredible Games for ParalympicsGB. At the time of writing we are second in the medal table and that’s despite not having done as well as we would have liked in the athletics, which traditionally has brought us a lot of success. It’s testimony to the depth of our squad that we are where we are and we can really hold our head up high about our performance.
It sort of confirms my opinion that we are probably the leading Paralympic nation. Yes, we’re not top of the table. It’s hard to beat China. The last time China didn’t top the table was when Australia beat them in 2000 and that was a home Games; since then they’ve been smashing it. But in terms of what we do both on the field of play in a whole range of sports, and then off the field in breaking down barriers and perceptions of disability, if you look at it as a whole package, we are the No 1 nation in the world.
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There’s lots to feel proud about, but I also think this has been a good Games for France. I was definitely worried about how much the French would embrace the Paralympics. But in the end the one sad thing is that they didn’t make enough finals, because every time I’ve seen the French in any sort of competition, the support from the crowd has been immense. It’s so invigorating watching how much they get behind their athletes. And if they had reached some more finals, I think these Games could have potentially surpassed London.
The French have had the support but, unfortunately, they didn’t have the team to take them to the level of London. And maybe this will be the catalyst. Speaking to people while I’ve been in Paris, there’s a long way to go in order to get the funding that French athletes need to really compete with the best in the world. But they now know what it’s like, they’ve had a taste of it, and there’ll be French kids up and down the country who have disabilities, parents who have children with disabilities, who’ll be inspired by the Games and thinking my child needs those opportunities.
I’ve felt that sense of legacy. My three-year-old son has come to these Games and it gives me extra pride to know that his first experience of a major global sporting event is the Paralympics. He’s learned the word Paralympian before the word Olympian and he sees no difference between the greatness of the athletes in both Games. This is where we need to be at. Now, just bring home that basketball gold.
