By Al Campbell
VANCOUVER, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- At 38-years-old, Canadian wheelchair racing great Michelle Stilwell insists her age won't be factor at the London Paralympics starting Wednesday in the British capital.
As a double gold medalist in Beijing in the 100 and 200 meters T52 classification, meaning quadriplegic four limbs affected, the Vancouver Island resident comes into London on the back of an outstanding year.
While training in Australia at the start of the year, she broke the world record in the 400 meters (1 minute, 5.41 seconds), a mark she had been chasing since the 2008 Beijing Games. She then lowered her 200 meter world record to 33.52 in Switzerland in May, and smashed her 100-meter mark at a meet in Ontario in July to 18.67.
Stilwell, who broke her neck when she was 17, calls her preparations "far more intense" now than at the previous Paralympics. While the 400 meters is not a Games event in the T52 classification, the 200 meters goes Saturday, and the 100 meters on September 5. Both are a single-race final with no heats.
"I've put every resource that has been given to me into place. I have changed everything that I possibly think I could to make sure that this is the possible plan," said the mother of an 11-year-old son. "My coach (Peter Lawless) and I have really come together and come up with the best possible plan for London and I know that I am going to be the most prepared and that's all I can do."
Her main rivals in London will be Belgian Marieke Vervoort, the two-time triathlon world champion as a wheelchair competitor, and Americans Cassie Mitchell and Kerry Morgan. Stilwell beat the U.S. pair by more than two seconds in both the 100 and 200 meters at the Boiling Point Wheelchair Classic in July and told Xinhua she feels no pressure going into London.
"I really am trying not to focus on any kind of expectations that other people are setting me. I figure if I planned the race well enough, and I race the plan, everything will fall into place and I just have to focus on the performance and that result will come."
Stilwell knows all about results as she is one of a rare breed of athletes who has experienced success in two sports. At the Sydney Paralympics in 2000 she was a member of Canada's gold medal winning basketball team. Complications from her spinal injury, however, forced her to quit the national team following the Games. She was then spotted by Lawless in 2004 while playing a pick-up game of basketball.
Noticing her quick hands, the wheelchair racing coach convinced her to give the sport a try. While not successful as a racer initially, Stilwell said the "adventures or journeys" she has had in the two sports have provided her with great satisfaction.
"It was incredible to stand on the podium and share that moment with 11 other incredible (wheelchair basketball) athletes in Sydney, but to get in the podium in Beijing knowing everything that I had put into my events, and that I wasn't necessarily relying on what other people were doing ... it still came down my starts and my push and my finish."
She adds she feels fortunate to be competing at a time when recognition for the achievements of disabled athletes is continuing to grow, and most importantly, they are being recognized as athletes first.
Win or lose, Stilwell couldn't say if London would be her swansong.
"I don't know. It could be, we'll see. Anything's possible but I still think there's more in me and having broke the world record multiple times already this year, and reaching the 400-meter world record, I don't know why I would stop now, because I just think I'm getting faster."
Special Report: London Paralympics 2012
|
