PHOTO WARREN LITTLE/BRITISH ATHLETICS
I couldn’t believe it when I got the call to say I’d been selected for the 2016 Paralympics in Rio to compete in discus and javelin; I thought it was a cruel joke. I made the hard decision in 2014 to move away from the comfort of sitting volleyball, a team sport, to trying something different, something alone. Fate played its part when I was introduced to Shelley, a retired Olympic javelin athlete now working as a talent scout for the Paralympic programme. She talked to me about seated throws and talked me into trying in winter 2014. I was hooked, and a year of great coaching and support later, here I am, ranked fifth in the world.
Coming into a new sport and team is always hard as an LGBT person, though. I’ve always been out with everyone, not making a big deal out of it, but talking about my partner Helen and taking her to competitions in the same way anyone would. But I haven’t experienced anyone reacting badly to me being gay. In fact, so long as I throw well, I don’t think they care. This fills me with hope that the culture of sport is finally changing. The more open role models there are, the faster we can make progress.