Sydney 2000 This was my second Paralympic Games and I had now become an established international athlete, breaking the world record and becoming world champion since the Atlanta games. Lottery funding had come in the year before, which meant even more pressure to win.I class Sydney as my toughest Paralympics, it was right in the middle of my degree at Northumbria University and the games came round whilst I was working full time in my gap year, so my preparation wasn't ideal. The holding camp was on the Gold Coast at the Radisson resort and after 10 days there it was easy to forget the reason you are there. Sydney was a great improvement on Atlanta in terms of organisation and the Paralympic village. I had managed to qualify for the discus as well as the club. The discus was first and I initially finished 4th with a modest 14m 99cm (link to results), which I was devasted about but there was a protest against the winner and I was given the Bronze medal two days later. That gave me a boost for the club, and after a very tight and long competition (4 hours) in which I threw very badly, I won gold with another Paralympic record 27m 79cm (link to results).
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