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IN TOUCH – A Paralympics Special

TX:Ìý 27.07.2021Ìý 2040-2100

PRESENTER:Ìý ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý PETER WHITE

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PRODUCER:Ìý ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý BETH HEMMINGS

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White

Good evening.Ìý Now back in 1948 a small group of recently spinally injured men and women held what amounted to a small sports day at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.Ìý Simply regarded as rehabilitation for their injuries.Ìý And the idea of an 80,000 crowd at a purpose-built stadium, cheering on disabled athletes would have seemed incredible.Ìý And yet, that little sports day was the starting point of what is now rated the third biggest sporting event in the world.Ìý Can’t think what the other two are.

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Okay, history lesson over because today, with the Tokyo Paralympics just under a month away, we want to see how this event, in Tokyo, which, of course, some people believed would never happen, can live up to the reputation the Paralympics has built up.Ìý Because we’re In Touch we’re looking at it particularly from the standpoint of blind and partially sighted athletes.Ìý We have two of those with us, plus the woman who’s in overall charge of the Paralympics Team GB – matron, I suppose you might call her – and a blind broadcaster who’ll be bringing us all the Paralympic news from Tokyo.

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I’ll let you all introduce yourselves if I may, starting with the woman who’s hoping to bring back a medal in one of the toughest Paralympic events – the Triathlon.

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Peasgood

I’m Alison Peasgood and I’m a visually impaired para-triathlete.Ìý Having won two world titles and a Paralympic silver medal.

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White

I hoped you wouldn’t be too modest to mention all that.Ìý Now visually impaired athletes have a fine reputation in the sport of judo, we’re sending four judoka – and that’s the proper plural, I think, to Tokyo – so let’s welcome one of them.

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Stewart

My name’s Elliot Stewart.Ìý I’m an under 90 kilo visually impaired judoka – I’m very impressed with that, not many people say that – and I am number four in the world.

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White

Now, hoping she’s forgiven me for calling her matron, let’s hear from the person whose role is to watch over those two and the rest of the Paralympics GB Team.

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Briscoe

Hi, Penny Briscoe.Ìý I’m obviously chef de mission for Paralympics GB.Ìý I have the honour of not being a matron but rather leading the team at the Games.Ìý Tokyo will be my 11th global games, fourth as Chef de Mission.

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White

And were there times when you thought this wouldn’t actually take place?

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Briscoe

I mean I think it’s been a tough 16 months, it’s been a rollercoaster but I think our focus, just like the athletes, has been on working on the basis the Games were going ahead until somebody told us that they weren’t.Ìý So, no, we’ve been keeping a positive, if pragmatic, mindset that organisers – the Japanese government, the IOC and the IPC – were doing as much as they humanly could to ensure that the sort of festival of sport, that the Olympics and the Paralympics are, would go ahead for the athletes.

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White

And finally for the introductions, assuming that it does go ahead, the man who’ll bringing In Touch news of how our visually impaired athletes are doing and a voice well-known to In Touch listeners.

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Djazmi

Hello Peter, great to be back on the programme.Ìý I’m Mani Djazmi and three weeks today I’ll be masking up and flying off to Tokyo where I’ll find – well who knows – but hopefully some sport.Ìý This will be my third Paralympics and so far, my Paralympic medals record is zero gold, zero silver and zero bronze.

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White

But probably a gold for broadcasting talent.Ìý Anyway, to prove that we’ve asked you for a run down of who, in addition to Alison and Elliot, we should be looking out for as real medal hopes.

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Djazmi

Twenty-one blind and partially sighted athletes will represent Britain in Tokyo, the biggest contingent coming from cycling.Ìý All the cyclists ride a tandem with a sighted pilot steering round at breakneck speeds.Ìý It’s about 40 kilometres an hour around corners, in case you’re wondering.Ìý In 2016, Lora Turnham won the individual pursuit gold in the velodrome.Ìý To defend it will mean going into uncharted territory for her.

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Fachie

It’s something I’ve not actually managed to achieve yet.Ìý All my sort of world titles I’ve won I’ve never successfully defended, so I don’t have a lot of history of success on that front but I’m definitely hopeful and we’ve been doing a lot of work on it.Ìý So, fingers crossed it all goes to plan and I finally do something I’ve not done before.

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Djazmi

Turnham is now Lora Fachie, after marrying fellow visually impaired para-cyclist Neil Fachie.Ìý He’ll be in Tokyo too and says he’ll have to break his own world record to win back the one-kilometre title he lost in 2016.Ìý As if that’s not pressure enough, in Tokyo, as in Rio, Lora and Neil’s track races will be on the same day, in fact they’ll be just a few minutes apart.

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Fachie

I’m aware of what he’s doing, that day, but my focus is my race and his focus is his race.Ìý

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Neil Fachie

We do care what the other one’s doing, of course, but I don’t really want to use the word selfish but I think there is that element to it, where you can just shut it off, do what you need to do and then I’ll deal with that later.

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Fachie

In Rio I had actually told my coach – just tell me how he’s done but that’s it, I don’t need to know anything else.Ìý My coach, Dan, was a bit nervous of telling me that they hadn’t won, in case it kind of derailed me but I just turned round to him and was like – well, it’s up to me to win the medal in the Fachie household then isn’t it.

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Djazmi

Lora goes into the Games having won gold in the time trial last month at the road cycling world championship.Ìý But the pair that’s taking para-cycling by storm is Sophie Unwin and her pilot, Jenny Holl.Ìý A year ago Sophie had never ridden a tandem, she still hasn’t ridden one on the track but after just two races, they became world champions in June.Ìý Also, look out for the name of Steve Bate, a serial gold medallist who’ll be stalking success once more.Ìý

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There’ll be a trio of visually impaired swimmers representing Britain in Tokyo.Ìý Arguably the one who’s most in form is Stephen Clegg.Ìý He broke the world record for the butterfly 100 metres by nearly a whole second in April.Ìý The record had stood for eight years.Ìý His sister is Libby Clegg, who’ll try to defend her 200 metres gold medal in athletics.Ìý In that sport, javelin thrower Dan Pembroke was denied a chance to compete at the Olympics by an elbow injury but after his sight deterioration he now qualifies for the Paralympics and has been described by British Athletics as being Paralympic podium potential level, no pressure!

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But just because you’re fancied doesn’t mean you’ll win, as Neil Fachie found out at the 2016 Games.

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Neil Fachie

Five years ago I came away with a silver in Rio.Ìý I went in as overwhelming favourite to win, so it was hugely disappointing.Ìý As much as we love doing it for winning, that fear of losing is pretty strong in most of us athletes as well and I don’t want to be in that position again.

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White

That report by Mani Djazmi.Ìý Stay with us Mani, we’ll come back to you but let’s, first of all, find out some more about our two guests.Ìý Alison Peasgood, why triathlon – I mean it sounds incredibly gruelling, how did you get into it in the first place?

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Peasgood

I was originally a runner at university, missed out in Beijing Paralympics and kind of lost my focus and focused on university and qualifying as a physiotherapist.Ìý And when I watched London, just the excitement around the Paralympics, it made me want to be part of Paralympic sport again.Ìý And, to be honest, like getting on the tandem, like I’ve always been a runner and I love running, but getting on the tandem and going fast, nothing beats that feeling.

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White

And I think, for you, the triathlon is a real sort of family affair, isn’t it?

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Peasgood

Yeah.Ìý Yeah, so obviously my husband, he was a guide for the visually impaired athletes prior to Rio and then, obviously, his brother is a para-triathlete and a para-cyclist.

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White

Let’s bring in Elliot Stewart because judo is a family affair for you too, isn’t it?

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Stewart

Yes, yes, it is.Ìý I was born in 1988 and that was the same year that my dad won a bronze medal in the Seoul Olympic Games.Ìý So, yeah, I was pretty much born into judo and I’ve been training hard ever since.

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White

And I think you and your brother, Max, you’re both involved with a club in Birmingham, which is intended to encourage other blind and partially sighted people to give judo a go.

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Stewart

Yeah exactly.Ìý We continue to plug that my dad had been an athlete and retired from judo.Ìý And then me and my little brother, Max – well I say little brother, he’s bigger than me now but we carried on the club and we always had the Olympics and Paralympics on the same level.Ìý So, we’ve always introduced people that are welcome from Paralympics and able-bodied, so all into our club, so yeah, yeah, we run a club that’s catering to everybody.

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White

I mean you fought as a sighted judoka and as a visually impaired judoka and I’m interested to know how you would compare them.

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Stewart

You see, at first, when I was a sighted player, I didn’t really see the difference but now doing both and losing my vision and then moving over to the para side of things, there’s a massive.Ìý As in, when you’re a para-judoka you start on the grip – so you’re holding on to your opponent all the time – so a lot of the stamina and the strength of the competition comes from your upper body and your forearms, whereas in your sighted judoka it’s a lot more about moving and gripping and ripping off grips and avoiding your partner.Ìý So, there’s been a lot of adaptations.Ìý But being on the mat for the first time, I’ll never ever forget just that overwhelming respect for people that are visually impaired and have lost their vision that are out there doing any sport, not just judo, doing any sport.Ìý They are true heroes to the Paras.

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White

A question to both of you, perhaps starting with Alison, I’m just wondering how much the constant uncertainty about when and if these Games would take place, how much problems that caused you in terms of the training and was the extra year, you know, beneficial?

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Peasgood

I don’t know, it’s been – it’s definitely been a tricky time and I’ve had ups and then I’ve had downs with it.Ìý But as athletes we have to learn to adapt.Ìý I’ve certainly had a lot of things – injuries and illness in the past – where you’ve just kind of got to adapt what you’re doing and move forward.Ìý And you always just had to focus on the Games happening and always having that in your head that that was still what you were working towards.Ìý But I actually set myself like little goals throughout last year, so that I kept on achieving something, so you didn’t sort of lose focus in what you were doing.

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White

Because there’s always this thing about your peak and you being at your peak and I just wondered if – well are you more at your peak now than you would have been in 2020?

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Peasgood

I don’t really know, I actually came off the back of 2019, I’d had a virus myself and that had led to a problem with my heart and I actually didn’t know what to expect going into 2020, whether I was going to be at the right sort of fitness level.Ìý So, it has given me an extra year to just keep getting stronger, so it’s probably no bad thing.

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White

And Elliot, what about you?

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Stewart

You know what, the pandemic’s been horrible and the extra year and people not knowing, like last year if the Games were going to be on or not, it’s been dreadful but, like I said before, para-athletes especially, we’re used to adapting.Ìý Like Alison just said she adapted and that’s what we do and we adapted.Ìý And I think the extra year has – taken it as a bonus, it’s given me an extra 12 months to fine tune, to iron out those little details, to look over my opponents, to have a few more contests under the belt, to have that extra year at being a para-athlete for me.Ìý And then going in stronger than last year I suppose.

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White

Let me bring Penny Briscoe back in.Ìý I mean just explain some of the measures that are going to have to be taken to keep people safe and I’m thinking particularly of people who are visually impaired athletes, given the importance of contact and touch in the things that we do.

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Briscoe

Yeah, I mean I think it’s important to, I guess, recognise that a lot of the measures that will be in place in Tokyo are exactly the same measures that the athletes have had incorporated, if you like, into their daily training environment over the last 16 months.Ìý And I think that from a visually impaired or blind athlete perspective that the key mitigations, first and foremost, is making sure that all the information is accessible, either on the athletes’ phones or whatever it is that they use, so that sort of the environment’s brought to life, if you like.Ìý I think familiarity is absolutely critical, in terms of ensuring that they know their way around, both our Paralympics GB team environment but also getting to the dining hall safely, getting to the transport mall safely, those kinds of things.Ìý And then, obviously, ensuring the sort of like mitigations in place for guides and support personnel as well.

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White

And there was a time, wasn’t there, when people who use a guide when they run were actually being told they couldn’t do it, I’m not sure how true that was in the actual real athletics world.Ìý Alison, how much a problem was it and is it?

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Peasgood

I’m not going to lie, it was huge for me.Ìý Like I rely – some athletes don’t – I rely on a guide to run every run session with me, to take me out on the tandem, even just to get about.Ìý And so, during the height of the pandemic you weren’t allowed to do anything with anyone other than your household.Ìý Fortunate for me, happen to marry someone who can swim, bike and run as a guide but it did mean – it meant I couldn’t do anything with anybody else, you couldn’t do it with your racing guide or the training guide that I was normally doing things with.Ìý So, for me it was a level of independence being taken away again.

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White

Let me just bring in Mani, quickly, as a reporter, you’ve been, as you say, to a couple of the previous Games but for this year, a lot of the elements that bring excitement to the Games, crowds and all that, are going to be very different, I’m just wondering what difference do you think this might have, perhaps particularly for visually impaired athletes?

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Djazmi

Well yeah, I mean that’s something I’ve thought a lot about myself because on the one hand, crowds in sports like swimming and athletics push the performers on.Ìý But, on the other hand, for visually impaired athletes who have guides it might make communication a bit clearer.Ìý And I wonder if that’s – I mean I’ve never done any of that before but I wonder if that might actually improve their performances.

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White

Well, I was wondering that actually whether the crowds, you know, because I just wonder, Alison, how difficult it is to know exactly what’s going on, if you depend quite a lot on sound.

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Peasgood

I don’t know, you’ve obviously never met my guide, Nicky, but she can always make herself be heard, no matter how noisy.Ìý And actually, like a crowd does still life you.Ìý But I know when I’m training, for example, in the gym, I don’t want like any music on, I want it to be quiet so I can focus.Ìý So, yeah, like it’s kind of mixed of both really.

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White

So, it could be an advantage.Ìý And Elliot, I mean I think you and other judokas you sound quite a lot.

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Stewart

Yeah, yeah we do.Ìý When we’re competing on the mat our coach would be in the coaching box, so he will always relay how long is left of the contest, which is always a critical part of most of our fight plan.Ìý So, yeah, not having a crowd has its ups and downs, has its pros and cons but yeah, so taking the best from it, like yeah, I’ll be able to hear my coach a lot clearer and get that information across a lot quicker.

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White

Penny Briscoe, just quickly before we go, looking ahead there’s a scheme, I think, called From Home to the Games that you’re involved with to find the Paralympians of the future because in Paralympics sport people can rise to the top quite quickly.Ìý Can you just say just a few words about that and how visually impaired people might get involved in it?

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Briscoe

Yeah, it’s a system wide talent identification campaign and I think previous campaigns that we’ve been involved with have attracted thousands, literally, of applications both across Olympic and Paralympic sport.Ìý So, sign up for free.Ìý It’s available to anyone between 15 and 35 who’s got an eligible impairment and the list of impairments is on the frequently asked questions page.Ìý There’s a series of tests that the applicants can submit.Ìý And I just really, really, really encourage anyone that’s interested in para-sport, find out whether you’ve got an eligible impairment and do really give it a go, it’s a fantastic movement to be involved with.Ìý I think it’s a great opportunity and what a time to be involved in para-sport.

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White

Thanks for telling us all about that and we would also urge people to take part.Ìý All I can add now is to wish the whole of the Paralympics GB team, especially Alison and Elliot, the very best of luck.Ìý Alison Peasgood, Elliot Stewart, Penny Briscoe and Mani Djazmi, thank you all very much indeed.

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That’s it for today.Ìý You can email with your queries and comments intouch@bbc.co.uk or visit bbc.co.uk/intouch from where you can download tonight’s and previous programmes.

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From me, Peter White, producer Beth Hemmings and studio managers Jonathan Esp and Sue Stonestreet.Ìý Goodbye.

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