What is important for you about sport in general?

For me sport is fun! I do it because I love it and it keeps me healthy.

What advice would you like to give to other people doing sports?

My number one advice is to make sure you are having fun! I think everyone should discover what sport they are good at and what sport they enjoy doing. From there, it is easy to stay motivated and involved.

What is special for you about your sport compared to other sports?

I really enjoy that sport is an individual sport versus a team sport because my successes and my failures all fall on me. I also love the speed that is involved in wheelchair racing! Who doesn't enjoy going fast!?

What is special for you about your sport compared to other sports?

I tried a few sports, but for me throwing the discus was my favourite. There is nothing like the feeling you get when you throw a great discus.

What is your advice as a Paralympic athlete to other people doing sports?

Enjoy the sport you take part in and be patient, it takes years of training to reach the top.

What is your aim for the future?

I want to win a medal at the Paralympic Games and break the world record.

What would be your advice as Paralympic athlete for other people to advance in life?

Be persistent, keep trying and work hard, it will be worth it in the end when you achieve your goal.

Do you have a personal motto in life and in sport?

I want to be respected as an athlete instead of being admired as a person with an impairment.

What is your advice to others to advance in life?

To always further develop and to be self-cricital. Let's keep it like that: "Who thinks to be something has stopped to become better."

What is your advice to other athletes?

Stick to your principles. It needs a lot of discipline, ambition and patience to reach the top.

What is your future aim?

I want to win a gold medal in London and maintain being happy doing sports and to stay fit.

What is important for you about sport in general? What do you get out of it?

Sport is important to maintain the physical and emotional balance. It’s a physical energetic activity that puts our limits to the test, although we may practice sports just for fun, entertainment or distraction. I get pleasure out of practicing sports, it fills my free time, reduces my stress and anxiety. It’s above all a personal gratification, because of the challenge, the struggle for self-transcendence, the conquest, the victory and recognition.

What is special for you about your sport compared to others?

I've been a swimming athlete for 15 years. Now I chose boccia because it’s calmer. It’s a strategic game that requires great precision and concentration. It’s a different challenge as well.

What is important for you about sport in general? What do you get out of it?

Sport is considered to be part of my life. It brings me bravery and strength and enables me to seek happiness and realize my dreams; It also has brought me pleasant life and treasurable family!

What would be your advice to other people?

To advance in life you need to believe in yourself and you need to set goals for yourself. Push yourself because you can achieve anything in life if you put your mind to it.

Do you have a personal motto in life and in sport?

My personal maxim is to always do my best and try my hardest at everything. I want to be the best at what I do, in sport and life.

What is important for you about sport in general? What do you get out of it?

The most important thing in our sports is to test your body to maximum, to see how much can you do in sport. We do it for love and sociality for this sport. We get big satisfaction and motivation, desire to progress not only in Paralympic sport but in life.

What is special for you about your sport compared to other sports?

First, athletic is the mother of all sport in the world. Before I began to lose eye vision on my right eye (I was blind on left eye then), I was played handball. When my accident happens I go to train athletic javelin throw because is the similar to handball and then I start to love this discipline. Interest in athletics is what makes it simple to do, but it is not. Invest your maximum effort to make you improve your personal records.

What would be your advice as Paralympic athlete for other people doing sports?

My advice would be doing your sport that you love, for your health. When you do something that you love, then you do it as best as you can. Sport is very good because you learn about the world, you meet new person, meet new culture and tradition, but best in all you socialized with people in your sport.

What is important for you about sport in general? What do you get out of it?

Wheelchair Basketball is not just a sport that challenges me physically. In Wheelchair Basketball to be the best you can be you have to improve your skills, you have to learn how to work in a team environment and you have to learn about the game and your opponents to be successful. For this reason, Wheelchair Basketball has given me the opportunity to learn so much about how to work towards a goal. To be successful, you must often first fail and learn how to improve from that, but when you do succeed or win it is so much better for having to put so much work in.

Do you have a personal maxim in life and in sport?

Always focus on what can be done, not what cannot be changed.

What advice would you like to give to other people doing sports?

Sport is like life. The more you work on something, the better you become. That said, you have to work in the right way and finding the right way to work is sometimes more difficult than working hard just to work. Work smart and hard and be focused and enjoy the improvement: regardless of how big or small.

What would be your advice as a Paralympic athlete for other people to advance in life?

When you cannot do something, do not stop, find a different way and work as hard as you can to accomplish what you care about.

GOLD

Here I am

on top of the podium

on top of the world

looking down at it

instead of up

for a change

My heart cannot contain

the emotions, the elation

they spill into my shining face

and are reflected

in an ocean of smiles and flags

whose cheering surf crashes over me

I immerse myself in this moment

a hard-won summit of my years

of pain, of sweat, of tears

In this moment

the world sees me

the world sees a winner

someone who took what life handed them

and found the strength and the courage

to forge it into something better

In this moment

the world is focused

on what I can do

not on what I can’t

In this moment

the world sees a golden athlete

not a leaden cripple

In this moment

it doesn’t matter that I have wheels

where legs should be

In this moment

the world understands

that the Gold

is inside

© Rax Baker

What is special for you about long jump compared to other sports?

Long jump is an individual event, it depends on who jumps further, just need a tape measure!

Do you have a personal motto in life and in sport?

To me, the stairs are for climbing and the mountains are for conquering. The aim must be clear and the dreams are to be transcended.

What is your aim for the future?

I am trying to transcend myself and win.

What would be your advice as Paralympic athelte for other people doing sports?

Victory means one more minute of insistence, because most people give up in this one minute.

What would be your advice for others to advance in life?

When you were in pressure you can choose to go into the field of play. It feels awesome after doing sports and sweating!

What would be your advice to other athletes?

It is difficult to keep pace with the increasing demands of Paralympic sport and at the same time push your professional future. Athletes aiming to combine both, sport and job, in a professional way, need to have an extraordinary will and invest a lot of time and effort.

What would be your advice on how to advance in life?

From time to time, you have to make decisions in life. Don't do things half-way, but do it right and consequently focus on the way taken.

What is your future aim?

In sports: a medal in London! Beyond: to persist further challenges in the Andes and Himalaya.

Do you have a personal motto?

To always do the best possible, but not at all costs!

What is the uniqueness of your sport?

The sense of freedom I feel when I use a handbike is what keeps me training 3-4 hours a day. Having played able-bodied field sports first and then wheelchair sports, nothing beats the fresh air and great workout you get when you head of into the countryside for a couple of hours.

Do you have a personal motto in life and in sport?

I hope to stay healthy and happy for as long as possible. I always aim to develop as a person so I can make a positive contribution to society and hopefully improve the areas I work in.

What advice would you like to give to other people doing sports?

My advice is not that different to the one of many others: You have to believe in yourself, to set goals and to accept yourself how you are. Then success will come to you, in sport and in life. It is also important that life does not mean to be first all the time, giving his personal best is more important.

What is your aim for the future?

I do have a lot of goals, but at the moment the preparation for the Paralympics fill my days. Every day, I work very hard for the big day: the 100m final (T42). Winning the gold medal would be a dream coming true!

What is your advice as a Paralympic athlete to other people?

Exercise is the greatest form of exhilaration, both physical and mental. Sport allows for the building of bridges to so many communities, circumstances and changes. Therefore, continue to breathe life into sport and you will notice a change in your life.

What is important for you about sport in general?

Running is medicinal and allows me to exercise my mind and body at the same time. I have grown up in the sports so I went from being given lessons to now being able to show others the world through my talents.

What would be your advice as Paralympic athlete for other people doing sports?

It is most important to have fun in what you are doing and to stay focused after throwbacks. Always concentrate on your goals.

What is you aim for the future?

At the moment, I am concentrating completely on London to win at least one medal there.

What is important for you about sport in general? What do you get out of it?

Swimming gives me the opportunity to get the maximum out of me and to measure up to other athletes in competition.