Life-changing horse-riding accident didn't stop Tokyo paralympic swimmer dreaming big

Paralympic swimmer Suzanna Hext suffered life-changing injuries in a horse-riding accident the day before the London 2012 Olympics and has been wheelchair-bound ever since but this didn’t stop her battling to compete on the world stage at Tokyo 2020.

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, which runs from 24 August to 5 September, features 539 medal events across 22 sports and Suzanna Hext’s journey to Tokyo has been a long, arduous fight.

Horse threw her off and 'life as I knew it had changed forever'

On July 26, 2012, Ms Hext had been breaking in a young horse when it reared up, threw her off, landed on her and then rolled back on her crushed body.

She sustained spinal damage, head injuries, a shattered pelvis and spent months bed-bound in hospital.

While in hospital while watching London 2012, she set her sights on competing in the Paralympics.

Suzanna Hext said (@suzannahext) in a tweet: "9 yrs ago my whole world fell apart in a split second. Life as I knew it had changed forever…I was stuck in a rut, & lost ‘me’ as a person.

“The London 2012 Paralympics gave me hope. It wasn’t the end of the road-9 yrs on I’m going to the PARALYMPICS!”

Doctors told her she would never ride again but her determination saw her back in the saddle just two years later.

Many operations later she got back on a horse and went on to win three gold medals in the European Para-dressage championships.

Having turned her attention to swimming in 2017, she now holds the British record in the S5 50m and 100m freestyle, as well as the SB4 100m backstroke and will swim all three events in Tokyo, as well as the S5 50m backstroke.

She set her sights on competing as a ParalympicsGB athlete in swimming and dressage but two weeks into the first lockdown in April 2020 Tokyo’s Paralympics was postponed until 2021.

Swimming in a Cornish stream part of pandemic training

She decided to move back to her parents' home in Cornwall to train. Preparing for the Paralympics during a pandemic had its own challenges and her parents' living room was transformed into a gym.

Open water swimming became part of her training and exercises included swimming in a Cornish stream near her family’s farm.

Her friend, 20-time champion jockey Sir AP McCoy, offered her use of his outdoor pool when England's gyms and leisure facilities were shut down due to Covid-19 restrictions.

“I knew the McCoys before, but I never thought I'd need to ask to use their pool, to be fair!", she said.

"I messaged Chanelle in lockdown, saying, 'I don't suppose when I move back (from her family home in Cornwall) that I could use your pool?'

"Their support has been immensely helpful, because without them I may have been left just watching people in the pool elsewhere. At least I can still swim this way.

Zoom coaching sessions

"I've had the Zoom coaching sessions in their pool with the NPC team. I genuinely never thought it was going to work. I thought the coaches would never be able to see me to the end of the pool on a small camera. But it has worked, it's really helpful and it's definitely filled a gap, that's what I needed.

"I think the Covid pandemic has brought people closer together, and more people are helping each other out. I've noticed that Covid has given many people time to reflect, and allowed people to step off that continuous hamster wheel that we end up on in life… I think a lot of people will learn something from the time we have all spent in lockdown.”

Ms Hext wanted to represent ParalympicsGB across two disciplines - swimming and dressage but the Tokyo games schedule sees the two overlap.

"Riding-wise, it uses a lot of core. People think the horse does everything, but that is definitely not the case! We’ve had quite a lot of core sessions with the NPC team during lockdown and in my strength and conditioning programme, which has been fantastic, as it’s not only helped me in the pool, but it has also helped me get back in the saddle.”

'You just don't know what's around the corner'

Tokyo 2020 welcomed the highest number of athletes at a Paralympics - exceeding Rio 2016 that saw 4,328. It also sees the highest number of women athletes at 1,853.

This includes ParalympicsGB cyclist Dame Sarah Storey who won the first gold medal for the team on day one in the C5 3000m Individual Pursuit – her 15th Paralympic gold medal.

Other female ParalympicsGB athletes include swimmer Ellie Simmonds who competes in her fourth consecutive Paralympics Games.

Diagnosed with achondroplasia - a genetic disorder associated with dwarfism - she was chosen to be ParalympicsGB’s flag bearer at the Tokyo Paralympics opening ceremony.

Having made her debut at Beijing 2008 aged 13, she was awarded two gold medals in the 100m and 400m freestyle. At London 2012, she repeated her success and also won a gold medal at Rio 2016 in the 200m individual medley She was also awarded a silver medal and two bronzes.

Ellie Simmonds OBE said, “I’m hugely honoured to carry the flag for the ParalympicsGB team. Just to be here in Tokyo is amazing but to carry the flag is the icing on the cake.”

International Paralympics Committee (IPC) President Andrew Parsons said: “The Paralympics are first and foremost about sports.

“There is so much to see … for example a blind sprinter running 100m in 10 seconds, at the same time you can see a boccia player with a severe disability doing sport that is exactly about precision. You see athletes with such a severe disability controlling a horse in dressage.

“It’s also a transformational event. It changes the way people think about disability. People connect with diversity. They realise that being different is a strength, not a weakness.”

Ms Hext adds: “You just don't know what is around the corner. The key is to enjoy and treasure every moment and to make the most of every opportunity in life. This is certainly something my accident has taught me along the way.”