BEIJING 2008: Feeling inspired by Team GB success

5:30pm Wednesday 3rd September 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

WHEELCHAIR archer John Stubbs is determined to give Warrington even more to celebrate at the Paralympics after the success of rower Richard Egington at the Olympic Games.

Egington became Warrington’s most successful Olympian of all time when he took the silver medal for Great Britain in the men’s eight rowing final in Beijing.

The Great Britain team enjoyed remarkable success in the Olympics, winning 47 medals in total, and Stubbs is hopeful that the Paralympic team can follow suit.

The 43-year-old from Woolston, who is one of the favourites in the open compound category, departed for the British holding camp in Macau on August 27 ahead of the start of the Paralympics on Sunday.

And Stubbs thinks Egington’s medal success has given him all the extra motivation he needs to give the town even more to be proud of.

He said: “It has made me want to go give it that extra push because not only do I want to do well for myself, I also want to do well for the town.

“It would be great to do that because Warrington Borough Council and the Warrington Guardian have stood by me and have always given me encouragement.

“The GB team have had fantastic success in the Olympics.

“We will want to prove that we are capable of doing that as well.

“There is always pressure to do well but the British team have always done well at the Paralympics.”

Stubbs heads on to Beijing on Saturday but former Lymm High School pupil Niki Birrell is already at Paralympic venue Qingdao preparing for the SKUD 18 class of the sailing competition.

Before departing the 22-year-old watched the Olympic sailing at Qingdao with interest, with light winds making life difficult for competitions.

Birrell has already won an event at Qingdao in May and is keen to judge the conditions at the venue for himself rather than taking too many tips via television.

But he has taken inspiration from the success of the British team - and in particular Ben Ainslie, who won gold at a third successive games.

“He’s a genius,” said Birrell, who has seen Ainslie’s talent at close hand on the occasions when the British Paralympic and Olympic sailors have trained together.

“He’s probably the world’s best ever sailor. He wins all the time.

“I don’t know whether I can emulate that but I’ll be doing my best.

“Britain is the top sailing nation in the world and we’ve got the best infrastructure and the best coaches. There are no negatives really.

“I did watch the Olympic sailing but I won’t just say, ‘Ben Ainslie went left in that situation so I’ll go left’. I’ll take each race on face value.”