10 OUT OF 10 FOR ATHLETICS
Newport sprinter, Kate Arnold, has been confirmed as the tenth Welsh athlete to be nominated for the GB Athletics Team to the Paralympic Games in Beijing.
Arnold, who will be 20 years old a few days before the opening ceremony, is yet another new paralympian onto the squad joining Nathan Stephens, Becca Chin, Jenny Mcloughlin and John Mcfall. In total 10 athletes from Wales have been selected to the Athletics GB Team.
Kate Arnold smiles as she explains, “I couldn’t believe it when Tim Jones, UK Athletics Performance manager telephoned me to say – I didn’t know whether I should smile or cry with happiness”
Born with a congenital amputation of her left arm, she has clocked a personal best of 14.53s over 100m and 30.28s over 200m.
She is one of Britain’s brightest Paralympic track talents and, despite the infectious giggling, she has a serious point to make:
“My disability has always pushed me – I’ve always wanted to prove that I can still do everything.”
It is this determination which puts her in pole position. And she is no stranger to success – a world-class swimmer, she switched from the pool to the track in 2006.
“I wasn’t enjoying it and I needed a change. But I couldn’t stop doing sport. It’s just what I do. I don’t miss the 5:30am starts though or the endless counting of tiles on the pool floor.”
“I love athletics – it’s really social. I never feel like I’m going training.”
Within 12 months of the sporting switchover, Arnold was headed for Chinese Taipei where she competed in the IWAS World Championships – she finished sixth in both the 100m and 200m.
She is a member of Darrell Maynard’s training stable which is made up of a mix of Paralympic hopefuls and some of the UK’s top able-bodied middle distancers as well as 400m hurdler David Greene:
“Darrell’s larger than life. He keeps you upbeat and motivated. His enthusiasm and bubbly attitude really rubs off.”
It means that she is able to train alongside her role models – John McFall and Tracey Hinton who will be part of the Team.
Having come through the Disability Sport Wales Academy, Wales has already proved itself to be a Paralympic powerhouse, producing the likes of Tanni Grey Thompson and David Roberts. But Wales is busy cultivating the next generation by supporting young talents for 2012 and beyond:
“They are a great team. They make sure you get support on and off the track. The Academy has produced many talented athletes, like Nathan Stephens but you also have the new, young recruits. It makes for a bright future.”
FDSW Academy Manager, Gerwyn Owen, said: ‘I have been involved in Kate’s development in Disability Sport for the last seven years, firstly in Swimming and then in the transition into Athletics. Kate deserves her place on the Team, along with the other 9 athletes named recently.’
He went on to say ‘The Disability Sport Wales talent development programme, formailsed into the Academy in 2006 sees 10 athletes within the 31 Welsh athletes named onto the GB Paralympic Team fro Beijing having been supported and developed by ourselves. It shows the work we do in Wales produces the best talent not just in the UK but on the World Stage as well. Beijing will be the springboard a lot of the Academy athletes need to their main target, London 2012’.
