Paris 2024: Seven-time Paralympian Bywater excited by wheelchair basketball growth

Having played in seven Paralympic wheelchair basketball competitions, Great Britain’s Terry Bywater is perfectly placed to assess the development of the sport. So when he speaks in awe about the atmosphere inside the Bercy Arena at Paris 2024, his words carry weight. 

Moments after helping his side clinch top spot in Pool A by defeating France 85-50, the 41-year-old reflected on the intoxicating feeling created by a packed crowd, and how it illustrates the progress the sport has made since he made his Paralympic debut over two decades ago in Sydney. 

“That crowd – wow,” Bywater exclaimed. “Thank you Paris, thank you France, that was something special. 

“Just look at that stadium when the final whistle went. France lost and the crowd stayed and applauded us all for at least five minutes. It just goes to show how great the sport of wheelchair basketball is. I think we gained a lot of respect out there from the 15,000 fans that were in the stadium. I’m super proud of the boys. 

“Wheelchair basketball has developed greatly. Every year it gets bigger and better - just look at the athletes on the floor now.  

“For me the change came at London 2012 – we set the bar there with the fans coming through, filling the stadiums and getting the support. I feel that’s just helped wheelchair basketball in general.  

“Tonight, that was ridiculous. Playing in front of 15,000 fans at the Paralympics is something I’ll never forget.” 

Bywater’s Paralympic journey began at the Sydney 2000 Games, and has seen him collect four bronze medals in the six previous events he has competed in. 

“For me Sydney was a dream come true being my first Games, and they were filling the stadiums back then too,” he recalled. “I was a young 17-year-old kid, I didn’t play many minutes.  

“But the difference from 2004 to 2024 is clear to see. We’re filling out the stadiums all the time now, and wheelchair basketball has changed – it's faster, there’s more contact and there’s more points being scored. I just think it’s fantastic for wheelchair basketball in general.” 

Great Britain has progressed to a quarterfinal with Australia after three straight Pool A wins, but Bywater is taking nothing for granted in what looks like a wide open competition. Reigning champions USA topped Pool B, with Canada and Spain among other teams to impress so far. 

Bywater explained: “I know it’s a cliche, but it’s game by game from now. I’ve been here several times and I know how difficult it is to win a Paralympic medal, how difficult it is to make a final.  

“There’s lots of teams here that want to do the same as us – we've got USA, Australia, Spain, France. We all want to make that final day. We’ve had three good performances and I want us to get better and better. 

“It’s a super high standard now. We’ve seen some close matches here, and in the game earlier we had Canada beating Germany – with all respect to Canada, who would have thought that?  

“We had a lot of warm-up games prior to this and everybody’s beating everybody. It’s fantastic for the competition. It’s not like it was before where you thought maybe you had an easy group game and you could rest some players – every game for us now we have to go into it with 100 percent. You can’t take any game for granted.” 

Bywater is, however, encouraged by Great Britain’s performances so far as they enter the knock-out stages of the competition. 

He added: “It was an all round team performance against France. Everybody played and we’ve got two young kids that have come into the squad, two debutants in Lee (Fryer) and Pete (Cusack) who were fantastic, and our leaders in the team shone.  

“I’m super proud. To get to one Paralympics was a dream, never mind seven, and I play number seven as well. To still have the confidence of the coaches to play me; every time I get onto the floor I have the boys around me, they want me to take care of the ball, to shoot – they still believe in me. I take a lot of confidence from that.”