Discus great Dan Greaves eyes seventh Paralympic medal
PARIS: Dan Greaves once competed in the same team as British athletics legend Mo Farah but whilst the latter is now retired the discus thrower is bidding for a national record-extending seventh successive Paralympics medal in Paris.
At “the grand old age of 41” and with a gold, two silvers and three bronzes he embodies the advice he was once given by a coach “success isn’t final, failure isn’t fatal, it’s the courage to continue that counts”.
Greaves competes in the F64 category — for field athletes with moderately affected movement in one or both legs or the absence of limbs. And he is attempting to dethrone Jeremy Campbell of the United States, his great rival and the man who he told AFP along with him has taken the event to new heights.
However, in 2001 he was selected along with four-time Olympic champion Farah and Goldie Sayers, who was to win javelin Olympic bronze in Beijing in 2008, to take on the United States in a Under 20 international match.
It came a year after he had won silver in the Sydney Paralympics, qualifying to compete due to suffering from the foot deformity talipes (club foot). “I speak to Goldie now and again,” he told AFP. “People like to say they competed with the first Paralympian to appear in an able bodied competition for Britain.
“Some of that team say to me they cannot believe ‘you are still going’ when in their early 20s they gave up after being a junior. “I look back and see they had a different life for the last 20 years which is fine as everyone picks their own path. “This sport has been very kind to me, I have made friends and been up against some tough competitors. “It has kept me motivated.” — AFP