91Èȱ¬

Raise Your Game: Did you ever dream that you would achieve so much?

Tanni Grey Thompson: I knew from a really young age that I wanted to be involved in sport because I'm very, very competitive. Actually, for a whole pile of years I wanted to play basketball. I was rubbish at it, but I tried really hard, and just through luck I found athletics.

I tried and tried loads of different sports and eventually just found something that I liked and then started working at that. I think that's one of the most important things; if you want to be good at it you have to find something you like doing, because you're going to have to spend an awful lot of time practising at it. From about the age of 11 or 12 I dreamt about representing Great Britain, but always thought it would be on a basketball court, so when it actually happened in athletics I was quite surprised!

RYG: Are dreams important?

TGT: My grandfather always used to say to me 'Aim high, even if you only hit a cabbage.' I think that's about having a goal and a dream and just seeing what you might achieve, because unless you try you're never going to know what you're able to do. There are lots of people who say 'I could have been a pop star, or an athlete, I could have been this, I could have been that.'

I actually went to school with a whole pile of girls who were really talented and who, at 14/15/16-years-old, were better than me, but I didn't train. Really it's about being the best you can, being really honest with yourself about the way you are, training hard. Good things can happen if you do everything to be the best you can.

RYG: Do you think that disability sport has changed much since you first started out?

TGT: Disability sport has changed a huge amount because when I started there was no media coverage, there was no integration of mainstream governing bodies and it was very difficult. I think in Wales we were in a different situation because we'd had other successful disabled athletes like Chris Hallam and John Harris who had been in the media and I think it made it easier for people like me to come on afterwards.

But the whole attitude has now changed, there is integration within mainstream governing bodies, there's equal access to lottery funding, sport centres are much more equipped to deal with disabled people, so there's probably never been a better time.

RYG: What impact will London 2012 have on sport?

TGT: Winning the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics is just the best thing to happen to British sport because it will inspire this generation of young people to be there competing, but also the generation that watch it will go away and think 'I can do that.' If the Olympics can't inspire a generation of young people to compete, nothing ever will.

For me it was Los Angeles in 1984. In the opening ceremony they had spacemen coming in on rocket packs and I just thought 'Wow, wouldn't it be amazing to compete at something like that.' If you ask most athletes it's probably watching another sportsperson but also watching an Olympics that's inspired them to go out and compete.

I think any city who would be bidding for the Olympics would have done well, but I think the difference is that London will host an amazing Paralympics games, there won't have been a games like it, and I think it's really going to set a new tone for level professionals, both from the athletes and from the organisation, for what's going to be a great games.

RYG: Have you got any advice for kids now looking to get into sport?

TGT: To any young person who wants to do sport find something you like doing, because you're going to spend a whole pile of time doing it. And then it's try to find a good club or coach. It's not always possible, but if you can find people you can train with, that will make a difference because knowing you've got other people around that you're competing against is something really important.

For me a big key of my success was a good coach, but also having people that I got on well with and could train with to push me on. They're there as a shoulder to cry on if it didn't work, but also there to motivate me to go and be the best I could.