No Gray areas for Emily
Emily Gray is targeting something gold, silver or bronze as she heads to her third Paralympic Games, writes Ockert de Villiers.
|||Johannesburg - It could be third time lucky for cancer survivor Emily Gray as she hopes to claim her first silverware at the Rio Paralympics to be held from September 7 to 18 which could also be her last appearance at the quadrennial showpiece.
The Pretoria swimmer, who made her Games debut in Beijing 2008 as a 17-year-old, was forced to have her left leg amputated at the age of 12 after she was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, a form of cancer in her femur.
”I am really going for a medal at my third Paralympics, I’ve been there, and done that but now it is time to medal,” said Gray, who was among the 44-strong Paralympic team that was announced on Tuesday.
”I am also going out to really enjoy it, I’ve learned a lot from the sport. I’ve seen that if you don’t enjoy it, and the pressure gets to you, you don’t perform well.
”I’ve worked so hard to get to this point and there is no sense in over-thinking and over-analysing things.”Gray’s best results from the previous Games were two seventh-place finishes in her specialist 400m freestyle and 100m backstroke in London 2012.The 24-year-old did not swim before the amputation but got into the sport as part of her rehabilitation.”I really couldn’t swim well. I could float but that was about it,” Gray said.
”It was obviously very tough because I used to run, and knowing I would never be able to run again was obviously very traumatic for a 12-year-old but it was a simple life and death decision. And when you are either going to live or die you are going to make the decision quickly.”
Gray gave Olympic rower Lawrence Brittain, diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease two years ago, words of encouragement when he was first diagnosed.”I had coffee with him when he first got diagnosed, we obviously spoke about cancer and what it’s done,” Gray said.
”I said to him it had really been a blessing in disguise, it is quite a drastic statement to make, but it has taught me so much.”I wouldn’t have gone to three Paralympics, and I would never have met all the swimmers and sportsmen.”
Brittain had since beaten cancer, and would be going to his maiden Olympic Games in the men’s pair boat with Shaun Keeling.”It gave me so much more than what I could have dreamt of, it is not so detrimental and it is about how you manage it and how you react to the situation,” Gray said.
She was among six swimmers named in the Paralympic team, and one of three female swimmers with Alani Ferreira and Shireen Sapiro.Gray said participating at the Paralympics had given her a new perspective of people’s ability to overcome adversity.
”I’ve seen the vast amount of disabilities and society will feel sorry for them meanwhile at the Paralympics you see your eyes open up.”It is humbling to see that and be part of that because they are really special people coming from backgrounds that are terrible but these people have overcome it.”
The Star