From Paralympic discus disqualification to the GB women’s eight: Rebecca Chin tells her story.

WORDS RACHEL QUARRELL PHOTOGRAPHY PAUL GROVER

PROFILE

The tenth of August 2017. Becca Chin and I are sitting by the sparkling waters of the Redgrave-Pinsent Rowing Lake in Caversham, headquarters of the British rowing team, after a couple of days of stormy wind and the announcement that she has been selected for the British women’s eight headed for the world championships. I cannot believe how calm the girl opposite me is. Because I am about to ask her to tell me the story of the worst day of her life.

Although new to the upper echelons of the GB rowing team, Chin competed at Beijing 2008 in the Paralympic discus competition, and won a silver medal. And then it was taken away, before she had even held it.

PROFILE

“I am about to ask her to tell me the story of the worst day of her life.”

Been there, got the kit, got a disqualification…Not, we should say straight away, for anything whatsoever she did wrong.

But Chin, at the tender age of 16, suffered the ultimate indignity of having her disability reclassified within minutes of being declared second best in the world.

Chin has something called ‘hyper-lax ligaments’ in both feet, which makes keeping precise balance while standing difficult. As a child she needed physiotherapy regularly, and started falling over when playing football. But she was from a massively sporty family, so Paralympic sports offered an opportunity.

Unfortunately hers is quite a rare condition, so didn’t immediately fit into an obvious para-sport category. When first spotted by the Welsh disability sport coordinators and encouraged to develop her discus skills, she was told she classified as an F44, meaning that she has normal upper body movement but limited function in at least one leg.