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Name: |
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Danny Crates |
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Event: |
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Athletics - T46 (amputee) 800m |
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Date of Birth: |
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09 February 1973 |
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Interests: |
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Scuba diving |
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Perfect evening: |
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Out for a nice meal with a good red wine |
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Biggest high: |
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Playing my first game of rugby after losing my arm |
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Biggest low: |
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Not winning gold in Sydney |
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| What gave you inspiration to compete at a professional level? |
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| The desire to be the best at what I do. Also, the dream of representing Great Britain. |
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| How important is living an active lifestyle to you? |
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For me as a track athlete, very important. I need to be physically fit and strong to enable me to train
and compete at the highest level. |
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| At what age did you start to engage in sporting activities? |
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Right from school. I enjoyed all sports and school gives you the opportunity to try out all the different
sports. |
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| How did you start engaging in sporting activities? |
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As above, just started in school and the sports I enjoyed most, mainly rugby and athletics, I joined
local clubs. |
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| What type of support did you have? |
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I have good support from friends and family, this is the most important one. Also I am lottery funded
and have some private sponsors as well. |
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| What barriers or difficulties did you encounter? How did you overcome them? |
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| Apart from injuries, I have not really come across too many barriers in my sport. |
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| Did you ever feel any type of intimidation throughout your life? |
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For the first couple of years after losing my arm, I did not like people looking at me. But I got used to
it. Especially when I worked on a dive boat, I got used to people seeing me then. |
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| What advice would you give to young disabled people thinking about taking the same route in life as you? |
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| Firstly and most importantly you have to enjoy what you do. |
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| How did you feel when you won your first medal? |
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Relief at first. I had dreamt of that moment for 7 years, and I had finally done it. The best
part of winning was having many family and friends out there with me to share in the experience. |
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| Do you feel there are enough resources available to cater for people with disabilities? |
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| I do not feel there are enough resources in sport for both able and disabled people. |
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| What are your future plans? |
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| To carry on running through to Beijing. Then play some rugby. |
