Paralympics 2024: The gold edition

 

06th September 2024

bbc.co.uk/accessall

Access All – episode 122

Presented by Emma Tracey

 

 

EMMA-               [Sirens] Bonjour, hello, and welcome to a bonus episode of Access All from a café in the streets of central Paris. We’re sitting outside and it has been chucking down with rain today, so most of the clever Parisians are inside. I will level with you, we were only supposed to do two episodes from the Paralympics in Paris, but we got access to Paralympics GB House where all the friends and family of the athletes and the athletes themselves hang out after their competitions. We got chatting to them, they were so much fun that we put together an extra episode for you. gold medal for us!

MUSIC-               Theme music.

EMMA-               Let me tell you a little bit about Paralympics GB House. It’s a really lovely spot. It’s a brand new building, accessible on four levels, and all the media stuff happens there, all the Paralympics GB behind the scenes team work out of there, and all the interviews happen on the roof. And it’s actually been beautiful weather right up to today so we were able to sit out on the roof in the sunshine and speak to those athletes, and literally get our hands on those gold medals.

ELLIE-                 It’s a gold circle with some I’d say ridges. It’s a piece of the Eiffel Tower in the middle.

EMMA-               Oh yes.

ELLIE-                 Then on the other side it’s got a cool design.

EMMA-               Oh, Ellie, it’s got braille.

ELLIE-                 It’s got some braille.

EMMA-               It says Paris 2024.

ELLIE-                 And on the bottom of the medal it says para swimming, women’s 50m backstroke S3.

EMMA-               More from Ellie Challis later. And there’s also an interview with Grace Harvey; what a chatterbox.

                            But first a conversation with para cyclist Kadeena Cox. Now, Kadeena’s had an up and down Games: she won gold in the team sprint in the cycling, but crashed out earlier in the week in the time trials. Hi Kadeena.

KADEENA-         Hi, it’s lovely to meet you.

EMMA-               Really, really nice to meet you because I’ve been watching you for years and thinking oh, we must get Kadeena on Access All, and now here you are. You’ve had a pretty dramatic Games I would say, haven’t you?

KADEENA-         Standard Kadeena fashion [laughter].

EMMA-               Talk us through how it’s been for you in Paris?

KADEENA-         I mean, it’s not been the best Games I’ve ever had. I obviously had the fall on Thursday which was gutting, just because I was going into the final with the second quickest time, and my first ride was horrendous so I know there was a lot more in there. Yeah, it’s gutting that I didn’t get the opportunity to defend my title. But I was able to come back out on Sunday and get a gold medal and defend my title in the team sprint with the boys.

EMMA-               I mean, you have a gold medal. That’s fantastic.

KADEENA-         Yeah, it’s not a bad thing I guess. I’m not complaining [laughs].

EMMA-               And the fall must have been really hard on you, but you have MS, don’t you, which is really unpredictable?

KADEENA-         Yeah. I feel like I find it one of the most annoying conditions. I wish I had a different disability [laughter], I’d say better but is any one better. But the unpredictability of it, it’s very much like me in general, like, my life is so hectic. But having a condition that’s also very hectic and unpredictable is frustrating. And I’ve gotten away up until this point with not having major bad days on race day. But yeah, at some point it was going to catch up with me.

EMMA-               Where are you going to put this gold medal?

KADEENA-         It’ll probably end up in a box with the rest of them [laughs].

EMMA-               With the rest of them! That’s so funny, with the rest of them.

KADEENA-         [Laughs]

EMMA-               How many medals have you got now, remind us?

KADEENA-         I think this is my seventh Paralympic medal.

EMMA-               Wow!

KADEENA-         Honestly, hate odd numbers, hate it.

EMMA-               Oh, you hate odd numbers?

KADEENA-         Yeah, I really wanted eight.

EMMA-               Does that mean you have to come back in four years?

KADEENA-         Unfortunately yeah. I thought I was done with this malarkey, but it would seem I am sticking around for another four years.

EMMA-               So, you are planning to come back and train and come back again?

KADEENA-         Yeah, definitely. I’m going to take some time. My mental health has taken a really big hit, so I’m definitely going to take some time to just enjoy training as opposed to training for performance. And then yeah, hopefully get back into it. I want a six-month sabbatical is what I said to my coach, but whether I get that is questionable.

EMMA-               Okay. And you mentioned your mental health there, is that from around the fall or was that a longer-term thing going on through training this year?

KADEENA-         Yeah, so I’ve got an eating disorder which I’m very open about, and it’s just been one of those years, the year has been so up and down that I think my eating disorder has just been more up and down. I was injured six weeks out from the Games so that was one thing, so trying to get back after that was hard. And then this, yeah, my eating disorder I think has been in control of me rather than me being in control of it. So, it's been pretty rough.

EMMA-               That sounds really, really tough. It’s been interesting, a lot of athletes have been talking about their mental health this Games. Is that a positive thing in terms of people being more open about it? Or is it a worrying thing in that more people have been struggling?

KADEENA-         I think a lot of people think athletes are super, like, humans, you know what I mean, and they think that we don’t struggle with things and we just keep pushing our bodies. And I think the pressure of being at your best and the pressure of defending titles, the pressure of trying to get to the top it’s quite intense, and you are in a real elite group of people. But I think we’re always teetering on the edge of pushing ourself too far. And so it doesn’t surprise me that so many people are struggling with or do struggle with mental health issues. But I just think it wasn’t spoken about so much in the past, so I think it’s always been something that’s been there but it wasn’t spoken about so much. Which also means there wasn’t the same support there. So, I think even though there are probably a lot more people I think they’re getting a lot more support, if that makes sense.

EMMA-               That’s really heartening to hear. Listen, what are you going to do for the rest of the time in Paris, because you’re going to stay till the closing ceremony, aren’t you?

KADEENA-         Yes, I’m sticking around. I’m hopefully enjoying watching some of the other teams. I’ve said to my brother that I would go to a different restaurant every evening [laughs].

EMMA-               Oh wow.

KADEENA-         My brother and sister, so I’ve got an 18 and 16 year old little brother and sister and they want content [laughs], you know what these kids are like.

EMMA-               Oh what, for their Instragrams?

KADEENA-         Yeah, they want content.

EMMA-               Oh my goodness. So, they’re basically using your celebrity status?

KADEENA-         Basically.

EMMA-               Amazing.

KADEENA-         I’m like, guys, I can’t eat that much food [laughs].

EMMA-               And they’d probably order off stuff like frog’s legs and things like that as well just for their pictures.

KADEENA-         [Laughs] yeah.

EMMA-               Kadeena, I’ve heard on the grapevine that you have extraordinary lashes?

KADEENA-         Yes. I mean, I got the standard nails done that everyone got done, like, everyone got funky nails. But then I was like, I’m going to go one step further, so I got blue, white and red put into my eyelashes.

EMMA-               Wow.

KADEENA-         Which looks a bit cool. And then I also had on race day blue and red eyeliner that matched my bar tape. So, I have odd bar tapes, so one side’s red and one side’s blue.

EMMA-               Bar tape on the bar of the bike?

KADEENA-         On the bar of the bike, yeah. I like being different and pretty odd, so yeah.

EMMA-               That’s interesting because actually beauty has come in a good bit this year as well with athletes in the Olympics and the Paralympics. I didn’t even think about make-up or anything like that on race day or while you’re performing, while you’re competing.

KADEENA-         Yeah, in the cycling world it’s not such a big thing, but I came from the athletes world where the whole Americans with long hair, long nails, extreme make-up. So, I think I’ve carried that over from the athletics world. I was obviously an AB athlete as well, so from that phase of my life I’ve continued it in para athletics and a lot of the girls followed along. And I decided that, I like having my warpaint on, so to speak, so I have it on on cycling days, even though I’ve got a visor on which hides it [laughs].

EMMA-               Yes, the make-up thing is something I completely miss out on being a blind reporter, so thank you for filling me in.

KADEENA-         That’s all right [laughs].

EMMA-               Congratulations on that gold medal, Kadeena Cox.

KADEENA-         Thank you.

MUSIC-              

EMMA-               From the make-up chat with Kadeena to the moisturising routines of a swimmer. It’s a conversation with swimmer Grace Harvey next:

GRACE-              Hey, how are you doing?

EMMA-               I’m good. How have the Games been for you?

GRACE-              Amazing. You know, even when we’re away from the sport the vibes in the village are immaculate. The support from the public in France, across the world has been amazing, and I think people are really loving the whole Paralympic Games.

EMMA-               And you’ve got a medal there?

GRACE-              I do. I won a gold medal in the 100m breaststroke in the SP5 classification. And I have to say it feels amazing to say I’m a Paralympian champion. It’s not something I ever thought I would utter.

EMMA-               Wow. I mean, what does it feel like to win that medal?

GRACE-              First of all I really needed to breathe. Like, I didn’t breathe in the final six metres, and I typically breathe every two to three strokes. And I remember thinking six metres away from wall that if I breathe now I am going to regret this for the rest of my life. So, hitting the wall I had this really heavy breathing, and I look up and see that I’ve won, and I was so shocked. And it’s still really sinking in now. And I am over the moon that I get to share this moment with all my friends and family who came out to support as well.

EMMA-               It must have been very emotional?

GRACE-              It was. I mean, it’s only really sinking in at the minute, you know. I keep having really hyper moments of the joy and then the tears. And I think when I finally get to properly embrace my mum later I am not going to stop sobbing.

EMMA-               We went to the swimming last night so we didn’t see you because you were a couple of nights before. But are you guys friends? Were you watching your friends last night?

GRACE-              Yeah. It was really weird, so I was first reserve for the 50m butterfly final, so I had to turn up to the pool, turn up to the core room so I didn’t get a fine, and then sit and wait in case someone didn’t make their core time to go up to race. So, it’s quite a weird experience. But afterwards I went up to watch some of the racing and it was amazing because that was the first time I actually sat in the stands, because I was racing on days two, four and six, so I hadn’t seen the audience by just being static and taking in that dynamic view. It’s a very different experience I found when you’re coming out to race and the noise is for you, rather than being a part of that collective sound.

EMMA-               This sounds like a ridiculous question, I can’t believe I’m asking it: what’s special about your swimsuits? Like, are they really special suits that you wear?

GRACE-              The swimsuits take about 20 minutes to put on to be honest. They are really, really tight. They’re like a second skin, and they contain a water repellent on top of the skin so, like, you’re gliding through the water. And they come down to your knees, and then you either have a closed back suit, which is material all the way up your back, or an open back suit where there’s a gap in the back of the suit, and then the straps come over the top. It’s personal preference what swimmers prefer. I prefer a closed back suit just because it helps my body stay in a better position in the water.

EMMA-               Right, that’s really interesting. And do you have to put special moisturiser on your body or anything like that? Can you do anything for your actual skin?

GRACE-              You don’t really want to put any creams or ointments on your body before racing just in case it ruins the integrity of your race suit. Because you want to make sure that the suit is in pristine condition to race in, because they’re very expensive, an average suit can cost around £350. And you only really get about three to four good swims out of a race suit before they start to lose their structural integrity.

EMMA-               Really?

GRACE-              Yes.

EMMA-               So, after three or four times you have to get a new suit?

GRACE-              I mean, you can wear the suit still but it won’t be in the best performance condition that it was at the start of its life.

EMMA-               Right, that’s so interesting. And swimming for you it’s not just the strokes, is it, it’s not just the competition, it’s a bit more than that?

GRACE-              Yes, I love sport in general but for me sport is just one part, the competitive nature. I love the fact that sport unites nations, that I’ve made so many friends across countries. And some of my best friends are on the German Paralympic swim team. And it’s just amazing seeing them have their own personal successes as well. I guess of course as soon as you are in that race environment you are competitors. But outside of that, that one minute 40 seconds that you’re racing, you’re so supportive, everyone’s personal successes and victories. It’s just a beautiful movement to be a part of.

EMMA-               Grace Harvey, thank you so much.

GRACE-              Thank you very much [laughs].

EMMA-               Thank you. Enjoy the rest of your Games. Enjoy your time in Paris.

GRACE-              Thank you very much.

MUSIC-              

EMMA-               Grace talked there about the Paralympic movement and how much joy she gets from that. And you can really, really feel that from a lot of people at these Games. There’s a bus [bus passes]. We were actually able to get into the athletes village yesterday and it was really, really accessible. It was like a holiday village. And everyone seemed so happy. There were people getting their hair and make-up done – if we want to keep to this theme we have here today. But we’ve talked to loads of athletes who are just so pleased to have friends in the movement, friends in different sports. They spend so my time together, they share flats together. And they are genuinely good mates, even when they’re in competition with each other. They’re obviously competitive and against each other at the starting blocks, but when it’s all over they have a hug and go and do each other’s hair, as Kadeena was telling us earlier.

                            Now, let’s continue with the Golds and the girl power theme of this bonus episode of Access All. Want another Paralympics GB winner? Let’s go then:

ELLIE-                 I’m Ellie Challis. I won a Paralympic gold medal on Monday, and I’m a swimmer.

EMMA-               Yay, fantastic. It’s so, so nice to meet you. What did it feel like to win a gold medal?

ELLIE-                 It was honestly the most surreal moment ever. I can’t really believe it’s real. I don’t really believe it at the moment. It’s in my hands but I just can’t believe it [laughs].

EMMA-               And could you tell when you were swimming?

ELLIE-                 Yeah, I had an idea, but there’s always that doubt in your mind in backstroke. One minute the girls were next to me and the next they weren’t, and I didn’t know if they were ahead or behind. I had a good feeling I might be ahead, but I really didn’t know until I looked up at that board and saw the time.

EMMA-               And you were in the water last night when we were there. Didn’t get a medal on that one, but was that okay because you already had your gold?

ELLIE-                 Yeah, you know, fourth isn’t always easy, but I really couldn’t have asked for more for myself after getting gold the night before. And I’m super happy with my Games, and I’ve loved every moment racing in front of that crowd. It’s been a great experience.

EMMA-               Can we go back to the gold medal?

ELLIE-                 Yeah.

EMMA-               Would it be okay if I touched it?

ELLIE-                 Of course.

EMMA-               So, describe it to me.

ELLIE-                 So, it’s a gold circle with some I’d say ridges. And I don’t know what the shape is. It’s a piece of the Eiffel Tower in the middle.

EMMA-               Oh yes, this bit?

ELLIE-                 Yeah, that’s the Eiffel Tower, so it’s the Paris logo and then it says Paris 2024 underneath and the agitos.

EMMA-               It’s not as big as I thought but it’s…

ELLIE-                 It’s heavy.

EMMA-               …it’s quite thick, yeah.

ELLIE-                 Then on the other side it’s got a cool design.

EMMA-               Oh, Ellie, it’s got braille.

ELLIE-                 It’s got braille. I’m not sure what it says.

EMMA-               It says Paris 2024.

ELLIE-                 Yeah, so then it says Paris 2024 at the top as well with the agitos in the middle, and then Paralympic Games at the bottom.

EMMA-               So, the agitos is the Paralympic symbols?

ELLIE-                 Yeah. And on the bottom of the medal it says para swimming, women’s 50m backstroke S3.

EMMA-               And where are you going to put it?

ELLIE-                 It’s going to go up in our family home.

EMMA-               Ah, lovely. Tell me a bit about preparing for a Paralympics? This is your second, is it?

ELLIE-                 Yeah.

EMMA-               This is your second Paralympics. How has the runup been and what has your regime been like?

ELLIE-                 So, you always go into Paralympic season and want the absolute best result you can, and you want to do everything perfectly. And I can tell you that never happens. There are so many ups and downs with the Paralympic season, and being this season the ups are even higher and the downs are even lower. It’s been very up and down, but we got here in the end and it’s all been worth it to come home with this gold medal.

EMMA-               What are you going to do now? Are you going to relax?

ELLIE-                 Yeah, I can’t wait for a bit of time off. I just bought a puppy so I’m very excited to go home and pick my puppy up.

EMMA-               What kind of a dog is it?

ELLIE-                 He’s a beagle. I bought him during holding camp. I was looking online at dogs and his name was Basil Gold Medal, and I just knew that dog was for me. And then I just had to go and get my gold medal to match his name.

EMMA-               Oh, Bazzy G I’m going to call him from now on. I’m so excited.

ELLIE-                 I can’t wait to go and get him. The dog’s meant to be, right?

EMMA-               Yeah, absolutely. Do you get some time to relax before you start training again when you come home?

ELLIE-                 Yeah, I’m going to have a couple of months off. This season has been long so I can’t wait to just relax and go on holiday.

EMMA-               Well, Ellie Challis, I heard Ellie Simmonds say that you are a ray of sunshine and always have a smile on your face, and it’s really love to see you so joyful with your gold medal today.

ELLIE-                 Thank you so much.

EMMA-               Thank you for talking to me.

ELLIE-                 Thank you.

EMMA-               I just still can’t believe that I got to feel a gold medal, or many gold medals as it happens. They are so heavy. That’s it for this bonus episode of Access All. Thank you to my lovely guests, Kadeena Cox, Grace Harvey and Ellie Challis, who you just heard. Now, we did say this was a bonus episode, and another one is going to drop on your feed from Paris very soon. You can expect to hear the inside scoop from the workshop where all the prosthetics get fixed and the wheelchairs and the bikes. That is something else, honestly, I don’t know when I last did something so interesting and as exciting as that tour. You’ll also be able to hear interviews with CEO of Paralympics GB, David Clarke, and you’ll hear more about what the French think about having the Paralympics in Paris. See you soon.