Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games
Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games
David Smith 5 v 2 Jose Oliveira 
Great Britain 76 v 55 Germany 
Maksym Chudziki and Igor Miszal 3 v 2 Aaron McKibbin and Joshua Stacey Joshua Stacey and Bly Twombey 3 v 1 Kayode Alabi and Faith Obazuaye 
Joshua Stacey and Bly Twombey 3 v 0 Patryk Chojnowski and Katarzyna Marszal Paul Karabardak and Billy Shilton 3 v 0 Kevin Dourbecker and Stephane Messi 
Yeongjin Jang and Sung Joo Park 3 v 0 Rob Davies and Tom Matthews Yeongjin Jang and Sung Joo Park 3 v 0 Rob Davies and Tom Matthews Tom Matthews and Megan Shackleton 3 v 1 Jessy Chen and Daniela di Toro 
Tom Matthews and Megan Shackleton 0 v 3 Thomas Brüchle and Sandra Mikolaschek 
Shuai Zhao and Jingdian Mao 3 v 0 Joshua Stacey and Bly Twombey Beth Munro 16 v 20 Yinan Yao Beth Munro 2 v 10 Lisa Kjaer 
Paul Karabardak and Billy Shilton 3 v 1 Paulo Salmin and Israel Stroh 
Rungroj Thainiyom / Phisit Wangphonphathanasiri 3 v 0 Paul Karabardak / Billy Shilton 
Canada 55 v 88 Great Britain David Smith 4 v 1 Daniel Perez 
Idrissa Keita 4 v 16 Matt Bush 
Hamed Haghshenas 13 v 26 Matt Bush Matt Bush 5 v 0 Aliaskhab Ramazanov 
Kseniya Markitantova 141 v 142 Jodie Grinham Jane Karla Gogel 141 v 143 Jodie Grinham 
Öznur Cüre Girdi 145 v 143 Jodie Grinham Jodie Grinham 142 v 141 Phoebe Paterson Pine David Smith 6 v 1 David Kral 
Sungjoon Jung 4 v 3 David Smith Peter Rosenmeier 3 v 0 Paul Karabardak Australia 141 v 150 Great Britain 
Italy 149 v 156 Great Britain Islamic Republic of Iran 151 v 155 Great Britain France 50 v 85 Great Britain Joshua Stacey 3 v 1 Lev Katz 
People's Republic of China 13 v 1 Great Britain Great Britain 5 v 4 Portugal 
Nataliia Morkvych 15 v 7 Gemma Collis Carminha Oliveira 0 v 15 Gemma Collis 
Chui Yee Yu 9 v 15 Gemma Collis Gemma Collis 10 v 15 Brianna Vide Rob Davies 3 v 2 Hakjin Kim Great Britain 84 v 64 Australia 
Yunier Fernandez 3 v 1 Tom Matthews 
Indonesia* 7 v 7 Great Britain * Won via tie-break
Joshua Stacey 0 v 3 Lin Ma 
Endre Major 1 v 3 Rob Davies Great Britain 71 v 43 Germany Gemma Collis 15 v 12 Zsuzsanna Krajkyak Gemma Collis 7 v 15 Amarilla Veres Gemma Collis 7 v 15 Yenheniia Breus Yunier Fernandez 3 v 0 Rob Davies
Great Britain 69 v 73 United States of America 
Between now and the start of the Paralympic Games, we will be sharing exclusive interviews with our Paralympians from Wales:
Athletes from or based in Wales who will be representing ParalympicsGB in Paris this summer:
Jodie was born in Haverfordwest and studied law before focusing on becoming an elite athlete with enormous success, as she is a Paralympic silver medallist, World Champion and European medallist.
Jodie has a condition called brachysyndactyly and has a shortened left arm, an underdeveloped left shoulder, no fingers and half a thumb on her left hand. When she took up archery in 2008, she worked with her father to develop a way to grip the bow.
Jodie was first selected for the GB archery team in 2014 and finished seventh at the World Para-archery Championships in Germany in 2015. She competed in the women's individual compound open and the team compound open events at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio, reaching the quarter-finals in the individual event.
In the compound mixed team event, Jodie and partner John Stubbs finished the preliminary ranking round, fifth out of 10 teams. After defeating Italy in the quarter-finals and South Korea in semi-finals, they lost 151-143 in the final to Chinese duo of Zhou Jiamin and Ai Xinliang – with a silver medal being a tremendous achievement.
Earlier this year Jodie took the individual compound women’s open title at the European Para Cup, as well as the doubles compound open silver medal with Phoebe Paterson Pine. She and Phoebe also won the compound open doubles bronze medal at the European Para Championships.
Jodie heads to Paris ranked world number 11 in the compound women’s open category.
Aled Sion Davies OBE heads to his fourth Paralympic Games as the reigning Paralympic, World, Commonwealth and European champion – and on tremendous form too, having won his sixth consecutive (and 10th in total) World Para Athletics Championship title in Japan in May.
Without question in terms of throwing, Aled is the athlete to beat!
From a sporty family, Aled was a keen sportsman from a young age. He represented Wales at swimming as a child while in 2005 he was invited by Disability Sport Wales to try out different Paralympic sports and picked up a shot put and discus for the first time. It set Aled on an extraordinary journey of dedication, hard work and success. Progressing his classification world records from 14.44m to 17.52m and 47.85m to 56.21m in the shot put and discus respectively. He is currently unbeaten in all major tournaments over the last 10 years.
Aled won Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins in 2021 and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours list for services to athletics.
Hollie Arnold heads to her fifth Paralympic Games on sensational form, having won her sixth consecutive world title in the F46 javelin at the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan.
Hollie threw a javelin for the first time at an introduction to athletics day called Star Track in 2006, and modestly recalls that it “seemed to travel quite far".
Little did she know at the time what a life-changing moment that was!
Just three years later, Hollie, aged 14 years and 74 days, became the youngest ever field athlete to compete in the Paralympic Games. She threw a personal best and finished just outside the top 10 in a mixed category in Beijing. More significantly the 2008 Games was where Hollie fell in love with the javelin, and from that moment on she has dedicated herself to become the global dominant force in category F46 javelin.
Soon after her family moved to Wales to allow Hollie to attend Ystrad Mynach College to benefit from the world class training and coaching programmes and facilities at Cardiff Met University.
And the training worked, because in 2010 Hollie won silver at the IWAS World Junior Championship and gold at the same tournament a year later.
Hollie won her first world title in Lyon in 2013, gold at the Paralympics in Rio in 2016 (with a new world record breaking throw) and became European and Commonwealth Games champion in 2018 – again breaking the world record on the Gold Coast.
That run of outstanding success made Hollie the first javelin thrower to hold all four major titles in the same Paralympic/Olympic four-year cycle.
In recognition of her inspirational sporting achievements, Hollie was made an MBE in the 2017 New Year Honours, and in 2020 she appeared on ITV’s I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!
2021 – Bronze (Tokyo, Japan)
2016 – Gold (Rio, Brazil)
2012 – 5th (London)
2008 – 11th (Beijing, China)
Having cerebral palsy didn’t stop Olivia ‘Livvy’ Breen from doing everything her adventurous twin brother Daniel did when she was little, and such is her incredible determination and infectious spirit that it doesn’t stop her doing anything now.
And that includes winning gold at two Commonwealth Games in two different sports and becoming World and European champion.
Having always had a passion for sport, Livvy’s international track and field career took off when she was classified as a T38 athlete in 2012.
The same year she was selected for the Paralympic Games in London (the second youngest member of the squad), where she finished fifth in the T38 100m, eighth in the T38 200m and ran a season’s best first leg time to help secure bronze in the 4 x 100m relay (alongside team-mates Jenny McLoughlin, Bethy Woodward and Katrina Hart).
More major international success followed – including winning silver (T35-38 100m) and bronze (T38 100m) at the 2014 IPC European Championships in Swansea, silver (4 x 100m relay) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, gold (4 x 100m relay) at the 2015 IPC World Championships in Doha and gold (T35-38 100m) at the 2016 IPC European Championships in Grosseto, Italy – before competing at the Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016 and becoming T38 Long Jump World champion in London in 2017.
Despite developing tendinitis in her right knee, Livvy won gold (T38 Long Jump) and bronze (T38 100m) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia and bronze (T38 100m) at the WPA European Championships in Berlin.
Livvy went on to win bronze (T38 Long Jump) at the 2021 WPA European Championships in Poland but just missed out on a medal in the T38 100m sprint by just two hundredths of a second, setting a PB time of 13.01.
More recently Livvy has won bronze (T38 100m) at the Paralympics in Tokyo and became Commonwealth champion for a second time by winning gold in Birmingham.
Livvy was presented with the Disability Sport Wales Female Athlete of the Year award in 2017 and was named BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year for 2022.
Paris will be Livvy’s fourth Paralympic Games appearance.
Sabrina heads to her second Paralympic Games fresh from winning her third consecutive women’s F20 Shot Put world title with a world record breaking 14.73m throw.
Sabrina started her sports journey aged 11 when she joined an athletics club in North Wales and began competing at local tournaments in 2008.
Her performance pathway up the shot-put ranks was rapid. In 2014 she won gold at the Brazilian Paralympic School Games in São Paulo and took part in her first IPC Grand Prix in Grosseto, Italy.
The following year Sabrina was selected for Team GB and finished fourth in the IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha – a result she repeated in Grosseto in 2016.
Sabrina won bronze on her Paralympic Games debut in Rio in 2016, before becoming European champion in 2018 and World champion for the first time in 2019.
By now Sabrina was throwing very close to the 14-metre mark – indeed, her World Championship throw in Dubai was 13.91 metres. She achieved the 14-metre landmark at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris with a 14.01m throw – a distance she recently smashed at the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships in Japan!
To relax, Sabrina enjoys creative 3D art, baking and spending time with her dog Sparky.
Funmi played basketball for Cardiff Met Archers and in 2019 (aged 16) she represented Wales in the U18 European Championships in Moldova, where she was recognised as one of the All-Star Five – one of the five best players in the entire tournament.
European teams expressed an interest in signing her and college scholarship opportunities in America opened up. With a professional basketball career in the making Funmi decided that it was time for a routine operation to mend her knock knees and straighten her legs.
But the surgery – six months after starring in Moldova – didn’t go as planned. An artery was damaged and despite five surgeries in the space of two weeks to correct it, she was left paralysed in her right leg from the knee down.
Her faith and love of sport remained strong, and when Funmi was introduced to the late great Anthony Hughes MBE, a key figure in the development of Para sport in Wales, a new career in shot put and discus began.
On her World Championship debut in Paris in 2023, Funmi missed out on a F64 shot put medal by just 20cms and finished sixth in the F64 discus.
Having won gold in the F38 discus earlier this year at the England Athletics U20 Championships in Birmingham, Funmi will make her Paralympic Games debut in Paris.
Harrison took up para-athletics in 2017, two years after a freak leg injury whilst playing rugby for Swansea RFC left him with no feeling below his right knee.
The former Wales U18 international and development player with the Ospreys has since enjoyed a sensational rise to the top.
Harrison “accidentally” set a new F44 shot put world record of 15.73 metres at the 2019 World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Grosseto, Italy – then, throwing the discus, he won bronze with a 54.85 metre PB on his WPA European Championship debut in Bydgoszcz, Poland in 2021.
The 28-year-old from Mumbles made his Commonwealth Games debut in Birmingham in 2022, winning bronze in the F42-44 discus.
Harrison won his first World Championship medal of his career earlier this year with bronze in the F64 discus in Kobe, Japan – with a final throw of 52.48 metres taking him into the medal winning position.
Now Harrison will make his Paralympic Games debut in Paris, having missed out on competing in Tokyo due to an ankle injury.
David is Britain’s most successful boccia player of all time, having won five medals from across four Paralympics – and as he promises to once again appear with his now traditional Paralympic mohawk red, white and blue hair style, he’ll be one of the most recognisable athletes in Paris too!
David, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a baby, first played Boccia aged six when his school competed at a national junior games tournament in Stoke Mandeville.
He played wheelchair hockey, wheelchair football, competed in para-athletics and was a keen drummer, but it was at boccia that he really flourished.
At 14-years old he became the youngest ever British Boccia Champion, beating the then GB captain in 2003.
David made his major international debut at the 2005 European Championships, winning silver in Porto.
Then, aged 18, he became double world champion after winning his first major international individual gold at the 2007 World Championships in Vancouver, followed by gold in the BC1/2 Team event.
At the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, David won gold in the BC1/2 Team competition.
Upon his return to the UK, David studied Aerospace Engineering at Swansea University. He has lived in Swansea ever since and enjoys the sports support and magnificent training facilities on offer there.
An individual gold at the 2009 European Championships in Portugal and a team bronze at the 2011 World Championships in Belfast led David onto the 2012 Paralympic Games in London – where he won silver in the Individual BC1 in a tense match with rival Pattaya Tadtong (Thailand), and secured bronze in the BC1/2 Team competition.
Individual and team golds at the 2013 European Championships in Portugal, individual gold and team bronze at the 2014 World Championships in Beijing and team gold at the European Championships in Guildford followed – before David won gold with an emphatic 5-0 victory over Daniel Perez (Netherlands) at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio.
There was no mistaking his status, as subsequent individual gold medals at the 2018 World Championships in Liverpool and at the 2019 European Championships Porto gave him an incredible triple crown of major tournament wins – holding Paralympic, European and World titles at the same time.
David defended his Paralympic title with gold in Tokyo and was British flagbearer at the closing ceremony.
David heads to Paris aiming to become a triple individual Paralympic champion and will also compete in the BC1/2 Team category, having recently won gold for GB at the Lahti Challenger in Finland.
Laura Sugar heads to Paris as the defending Paralympic champion having won gold in the Women’s KL3 200m in Tokyo – this is an individual who was born with a club foot and was told that she would be fine and lead a normal life providing she didn’t want to be a sportsperson!
Laura is in fact an incredible sportsperson, having competed at international level in three different sports – hockey (captaining Wales at U21 level and gained 16 senior caps), athletics (finishing fifth in both the T44 100m and 200m sprint events at the Paralympic finals in Rio) and canoeing (winning Paralympic, World and European titles).
It was the London 2012 Paralympic Games that inspired Laura to take up athletics.
She finished fourth and fifth in the 200m and 100m respectively at her maiden World Championships in 2013 before going on to claim two bronze medals in the same events at the European Championships in Swansea a year later.
In 2016 she again claimed 200m bronze at the European Championships in Italy, going one better at the 100m with a silver medal.
Laura went on to finish fifth in both sprint events at the Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016, then competed in front of a home crowd at the 2017 World Championships in London, but just missed out on a podium.
Laura was approached by British Canoeing and offered a trial in the KL3 class. She enjoyed a wonderful debut season on the water in 2019, winning European bronze in Poland and achieving World Championship silver in Hungary.
Laura booked her place at the Tokyo Paralympic Games by winning gold in the Women’s KL3 200m at the Canoe Sprint European Paralympic qualifier in Szeged, Hungary. As the event doubled up as a World Cup meeting, it was also her first gold medal at a major championship event.
After becoming Paralympic champion in Japan, Laura claimed her maiden world title just two weeks later in Copenhagen and was awarded an MBE in the 2022 New Year’s Honours.
She has since gone on to dominate the KL3 event, winning her fourth consecutive world title in Hungary in May.
James Ball started his sporting career as a swimmer before moving to athletics.
The visually impaired athlete was in-line to earn selection in track and field for Team GB at the London Paralympic Games in 2012, before an injury ended his hopes and aspirations. He persisted with athletics until a further string of injuries in 2015 left him unsure of his future.
As part of his return to fitness, James took part in turbo testing arranged by British Cycling and his potential on a bicycle was discovered.
He quickly earned a spot on its World Class Performance Programme and was selected for the 2016 World Championship team. Paired with pilot Craig McLean, James took bronze away from that tournament held in Montichiari in the Lombardy region of Italy – his first of what has become many World Championship tandem sprint event medals.
James then represented Paralympics GB at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, where he finished fifth in the kilo with pilot Craig McClean.
In 2017 James was paired with Matt Rotherham and they claimed double gold at the World Championships in Los Angeles, with victories in the kilo and sprint.
Further medals were gained at both the World Championships in Rio and the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018 before James returned to the top step of the podium at the 2019 World Championships in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands, winning the kilo alongside Pete Mitchell.
In 2020 James teamed up with Lewis Stewart. The partnership got off to a great start with sprint gold and kilo silver at the World Championships in Milton, Canada.
James competed at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, winning silver in the men's 1000m time trial (with Lewis Stewart).
James won the first gold medal of the 2022 Commonwealth Games for Team Wales by taking victory in the Tandem sprint event in Birmingham with pilot Matt Rotherham.
Later that year James teamed up with Steffan Lloyd, and on the pilot’s UCI Para-cycling Track World Championship debut they won gold in the Tandem Team sprint, silver in the men's 1000m time trial and bronze in the tandem B sprint at the Vélodrome National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France.
James and Steff have continued their successful partnership and have already this year won silver in the MB Kilo TT at the British Cycling National Track Championships at the Manchester Velodrome and silver in the Tandem B sprint at the 2024 UCI Para-track World Championships in Rio de Janeiro.
They are now set to return to the Vélodrome National in France for what will be James’ third Paralympic Games, where he’ll compete in the Tandem kilo 1000m time trial.
Steff (Date of Birth: 23/10/1998) is a former rugby player from Llandysul who discovered cycling by watching it on television. He went along to a taster session at the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome in Newport and was instantly hooked. He began cycling in 2019 and by 2021 he was selected for Team Wales and competed in the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the World Championships as a para cycling pilot.
Paris will mark Steff’s Paralympic Games debut.
Georgia Wilson heads to her second Paralympic Games having won two bronze medals in the Grade II Dressage competition on her debut in Tokyo riding Sakura – a chestnut mare, owned by her parents Geoff and Julie Wilson.
Georgia started riding when she was two-years old after her mum was advised by Georgia’s physio that it would help with her balance.
Georgia’s first pony was a Shetland called Diana, who was followed by a pony called Poppy.
Georgia joined the Pony Club and the RDA at Clwyd SRC, attending her first RDA nationals on Aaron, a palomino pony. That’s when she got the bug for dressage, and she also competed with BYRDs Wales team.
Georgia is no stranger to making her debut in big competitions. In her first European Para-dressage Championships in Rotterdam in 2019 she won gold in the grade II individual freestyle competition, riding Midnight.
At the same tournament, Georgia won silver in both the individual and teams (with Sophie Wells).
In 2020, Georgia was presented with the prestigious British Equestrian Federation Award at the British Horse Foundation Awards in London.
Following Georgia’s super successful double medal winning Paralympic debut in Japan, her village threw a celebratory party on the green upon her return home for her and her horse!
Georgia and Sakura have continued to strengthen their partnership and headed to Denmark for their first World Championship in 2022 on the back of two new personal bests at the Wellington Festival of Para Dressage and Hartpury CPEDI3*. They came home with a bronze in the freestyle.
Since then, Georgia and Sakura (who is now 10-years old) haven’t finished off the podium in any of their international starts. In 2023, a call-up came for the FEI Para Dressage European Championship in Riesenbeck, where they earned themselves team bronze, individual silver and freestyle silver.
Less than a year after taking up the sport at Durham University (where she studied law), Gemma Collis was competing for Team GB in her first Paralympic Games in London 2012.
Having been a torchbearer at the opening ceremony, Gemma finished 8th in the Women’s Team Épée. Competing alongside Gabi Down and Justine Moore, the young trio had an average age of just 18.
She also competed at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, finishing eighth in the Women’s Category A Épée.
Gemma quickly rose through the ranks and became the first and only British woman to win a Wheelchair Fencing World Cup, when she won gold at the Montreal World Cup in 2018.
She had already won five of her six pool matches and beat the leading qualifier before beating the 2017 double world champion and world number one Zsuszanna Kranjyak 15-13 in the Women’s Category A Épée final.
The Covid pandemic meant that qualification for the Paralympics in Tokyo was based on pre-lockdown performances some 18 months before. After a nervous wait, Gemma successfully made it onto the Paralympics GB team once again and outperformed her ranking by finishing 10th in the Women’s Épée A and 13th in the Sabre A.
Gemma heads to Paris for her third Paralympics on great form, having won gold at the 2023 IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Cup in Italy. There she defeated China's Yuandong Chen in the final 15-7, having beaten reigning Paralympic and European champion Amarilla Veres of Hungary in the semi-final.
That result took Gemma to world number one for the first time in her career.
Then in March of this year Gemma won silver at the 2024 European Championships in Paris.
Growing up on the Gower, Ben developed his competitive edge by learning to sail at Mumbles Yacht Club. This evolved into a passion and prowess for cycling and triathlon before an accident in 2016 saw him paralysed from the rib cage down.
Taking up rowing for the first-time during rehab at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Ben loved the freedom that rowing gave him, plus the opportunity to compete. And this drive and determination certainly didn’t go unnoticed by British Rowing, as in 2017 he joined the Para Development Squad.
Making an impressive international debut for the GB Rowing Team in 2019, Ben won two bronze medals at the Gavirate International Regatta in Italy before securing a further bronze on his World Cup debut in Poland and then narrowly missing out on a medal with fourth at the World Championships in Austria
Ben finished fifth in the hotly contested PR1 men’s single on his Paralympic Games debut in Tokyo and has since then developed into a consistent medallist, winning two World Championship bronze medals in 2022 and 2023.
And in his final competition before Paris, Ben won his first career gold medal at the World Rowing Cup in Poznan, Poland – all the more fitting considering this was the place where he started his international rowing career.
Rhys went swimming three times a week as a baby and loved it so much that he joined Connah's Quay Swimming Club. When he was just eight years old he decided that he wanted to race in competitions.
He moved to Nofio Clwyd Performance Club when he was 11, which is where he still trains today, swimming 16 hours a week and attending regular gym sessions.
Rhys made his international breakthrough in 2023 when he secured qualification for the Manchester Para Swimming World Championships in the Men’s SM14 200m Individual Medley event – securing Silver after a storming swim on the closing freestyle leg of the race.
The teenager backed up his performance in Manchester with another stunning swim at the Speedo Aquatics GB Swimming Championships in London to earn his place in Team GB – finishing comfortably inside the nomination time in the 200m IM.
Rhys, who has been on the Welsh Squad for three years and has trained and competed in different countries with Swim Wales and Aquatics GB, is the first Welsh para-swimmer to qualify for the Paralympic Games since 2012.
As a teenager, Tom had his sights set on becoming a professional mountain biker when a fall in March 2009 broke his neck which meant him becoming a wheelchair user at the age of 16.
While undergoing rehab in Rookwood Hospital in Llandaff, he was encouraged to try table tennis by Jim Munkley from Disability Sport Wales and GB international Sara Head, who worked at the hospital as a volunteer.
Tom made his international table tennis debut at the 2013 Hungarian Open and was invited to join the GB Pathway Squad. At the end of that year, he was part of the GB squad in the US Open in San Diego and he exceeded all expectations by taking silver in the class 1 men’s singles and a bronze in the class 1-2 men’s teams.
In 2014 Tom picked up team medals in Slovenia and Romania, while 2015 began with a bronze in the singles at the Hungarian Open. More medals followed, including bronze in the singles and gold in the team (with Rob Davies) at the Bayreuth Open in Germany.
He was selected to compete for GB in the European Championships in Denmark, and in his first major Championship he took bronze in the men’s class 1 singles and then partnered Rob Davies to gold in the men’s class 1 team event.
In extreme heat, Tom then went on to win two silver medals in the Copa Costa Rica in December 2015.
Tom began 2016 by taking bronze in the men’s class 1 singles in Italy, but a broken leg in April put him out of action for most of the year. He returned at the US Open in December to take gold in the singles, coming from 2-0 down in the final to beat the world number five KiWon Nam (South Korea) 11-9 in the fifth.
In 2017 Tom moved from the GB Pathway Squad to the Performance Squad and partnered fellow Welshman Paul Davies to win bronze in the World Team Championships in Slovakia. He was then part of an historic one-two-three for GB in the men’s class 1 singles, losing to Paralympic champion Rob Davies in the final after showing great character and fight to come back from 2-1 down to beat Federico Falco (Italy) in the semi-final.
Tom started 2018 by winning gold in the Italian Open and he finished the season by taking bronze in his first World Championships, losing in the semi-finals to World number one Young Dae Joo (South Korea).
Tom was hampered by a shoulder injury in 2019 and struggled to find his best form. He was disappointed to lose in the quarter-finals at the European Championships in Sweden to Dmitry Lavrov (Russia).
Tom made his Paralympic debut in Tokyo, winning bronze in the men’s class 1 singles.
The 32-year-old from Aberdare thrives in major tournaments and won gold in the men’s singles at the 2023 Czech Open, secured bronze at the 2023 European Championships in Sheffield and reached the final at the Slovenia Open this year by beating the world number one and the world number three.
Tom will compete in Paris, having received a wild card from the IPC after just missing out on automatic qualification.
A clot on his brain resulted in Paul having a massive stroke at the age of 10, leaving him with left sided hemiplegia.
Having been a keen football player, Paul found that he could put his excellent hand-eye co-ordination to good use when he was introduced to table tennis at a local youth club.
Within two years he was playing in the Swansea League and was selected to play for the GB Para Table Tennis Team at the age of 16 in the European Championships, winning a team bronze medal.
In 2013 Paul picked up medals in Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia and represented GB in the European Championships in Italy, taking a bronze in the men’s class 7 team event with Will Bayley.
At the end of 2013 he went to the US Open in San Diego and produced his best table tennis of the year to take the gold medal in the men’s class 7 singles, beating former Paralympic champion Mitchell Seidenfeld (USA) in the final. He also teamed up with Beijing and London Paralympic champion Jochen Wollmert (Germany) to win the men’s class 6-7 team event.
In 2014 Paul won team gold in Slovenia, silver in Italy and Slovakia and then achieved one of his ambitions when he combined with Will Bayley to win a bronze medal in the men’s 6-7 team event at the World Championships in China.
At the start of the 2015 season Paul was reclassified as a class 6 athlete and he took gold in the singles in Hungary and Slovenia and silver in Italy. He reached the semi-finals of the European Championships in Denmark, losing a very close match to the reigning European and former World and Paralympic champion Peter Rosenmeier, who was supported by an enthusiastic home crowd.
Paul then combined with new team partner David Wetherill to take silver in the team event after losing in the final to Denmark.
In 2017 Paul was part of the men’s class 6 team that won bronze in the World Team Championships and then came from 2-0 down to win the singles match that secured gold for GB in the men’s class 6 team event at the European Championships in Slovenia. He was part of the team that retained the European title in Sweden in 2019.
Paul won his first Paralympic medals at his fourth Paralympic Games in Tokyo, taking bronze in the men’s class 6 singles and then combining with old team partner Will Bayley to take silver in the men’s class 6-7 team event.
Paul has won many medals at World and European level and in 2022 he became world champion for the first time when winning gold in the men’s class 14 doubles with a new partner in Billy Shilton.
Paris 2024 will be Paul’s fifth Paralympic Games.
Josh Stacey was the youngest Welsh athlete to compete at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, and he returns to the biggest sporting stage as reigning Commonwealth Games Champion.
Having won gold at the 2017 Belgium Open, the Cardiff player, who has cerebral palsy, won bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia in the Men’s TT6-10 Singles.
Having won multiple medals at IPTT Opens around the world – including the Czech Open, Japan Open, Polish Open and the Lignano Master Open in Italy – Josh became U21 Welsh National Champion in 2020.
Josh made his Paralympic debut in Tokyo, reaching the quarter-finals in both the men’s class 9 singles and the men’s class 9-10 team (with Ashley Facey).
A year later Josh won his first major title at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, taking gold for Wales in the men’s class 8-10 singles.
He then took silver in the men’s class 9 singles and men’s class 18 doubles at the 2022 World Championships followed by bronze in the men’s class 18 doubles at the 2023 European Championships in Sheffield.
In addition to the singles, the 24-year old will also compete in Paris in the men’s class 18 doubles with three-time Paralympic team medallist Aaron McKibbin. The pair made a successful start to their partnership by taking gold in the Slovenia Open in May, followed by gold in the Czech Open in June.
Rob played semi-professional rugby until a collapsed scrum playing for Brecon RFC against Ynysybwl RFC left him with a broken neck.
He was air-lifted to hospital by a helicopter, which, in an odd twist of fate, had half an hour earlier rescued his twin brother Richard from a road accident.
Whilst his brother went on to make a full recovery, Rob was treated at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff before going to a specialist spinal unit at Rookwood Hospital in Llandaff, where he regained some use of his arms and hands. During his rehabilitation there, he met Para table tennis international Sara Head, who was doing voluntary work at the hospital, and he was introduced to the sport.
In 2007 Rob joined the GB Development squad and quickly progressed up the ranks.
In 2011 he won gold in the Men's Single class 1 category at the British Table Tennis Open – and the same year won silver in the individual and team (with Paul Davies) events at the European Championships in Split, Croatia.
At the London Paralympic Games in 2012, Rob beat Philip Quinlan (Ireland) but couldn’t quite reach the knockout stages after a 2-3 defeat to the then world number one Jean-Francois Ducay (France).
Two gold medals came at the 2013 European Championships in Lignano, Italy – winning the men's singles (which confirmed Rob as world number one in the Class 1 category) and, again with Paul Davies, the Men's team 1–2 class.
In the 2014 World Championships in Beijing, Rob showed all his fighting spirit to reach the final of the men’s class 1 singles but had to settle for silver after a 3-1 loss to Lee Chang-ho (South Korea).
Rob successfully defended his European singles title the following year, beating Ducay 3-2 in the final in Vejle, Denmark. With Paul Davies absent due to injury, Rob had a new team partner in another Welshman Tom Matthews and the pair took gold in the round-robin team event to crown a successful competition for Rob.
At the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games Rob came through two tough group matches 3-2 to win his group and after once again defeating Ducay in the quarter-finals and Endre Major (Hungary) in the semi-finals. He then beat Joo Young-dae (South Korea) 3-1 in the final to take Paralympic gold.
In 2016 Rob received an MBE in the New Year Honours List for services to table tennis, and in 2017 he won his third consecutive European title in Slovenia, leading an historic one-two-three for GB in men class 1 after beating old friends Paul Davies in the semi-final and Tom Matthews in the final.
Rob won his fourth consecutive European singles title in 2019, an achievement that led to him being nominated again for the Male Para Table Tennis Star award at the prestigious 2019 ITTF Star Awards.
Rob was unable to defend his Paralympic title in Tokyo owing to a shoulder injury but Paris will mark his 3rd Paralympic Games.
Beth is a shining example of what extraordinary life-changing benefits sport can bring and how effective SPAR insport Series events and Performance Pathway initiatives can be.
Having played netball and thrown the javelin, Beth attended a multi-sports insport Series event at Conwy in 2019.
Her talent was spotted by the late Anthony Hughes MBE, who encouraged Beth to move to Cardiff and take up taekwondo. Having never tried martial arts before, her natural ability, commitment and dedication witnessed a whirlwind rise to the top.
Beth won gold in her very first international competition, the 2021 European Taekwondo Olympic Qualification tournament in Bulgaria, to secure her place at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
Less than two years after taking up the sport, Beth won a silver medal on her Paralympic debut – which was the UK's first Taekwondo medal.
Since then, world number one Beth has won back-to-back European titles (2022 and ’23) and won silver at the 2023 World Championships.
A captivating motivational speaker and an incredible ambassador for disability sport, Beth also has a master’s degree in health psychology.
Having played both football and rugby at club and county level in addition to tennis, golf, various mixed martial arts, javelin and shot put, the multi-talented Matt Bush will make his Paralympic Games debut in Paris – arriving in the French capital as the reigning world Para-taekwondo champion.
It should be Matt’s third Paralympic appearance, but a shoulder injury ruled him out of qualifying for Rio in 2016 (when he was Britain's top male thrower in F46 javelin) and an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained during training forced him out of the Tokyo Games.
It was the first time taekwondo had been a part of the Paralympics and Matt was due to arrive in Japan as Britain's first male world Para-taekwondo champion – which he’d won in 2019, just two years after taking up the sport.
However, on return from injury, Matt won his first gold medal for 28 months at the 2023 World Championships in Mexico and has gone on to win gold at the 2023 World Championships in Azerbaijan, gold at the Grands Prix in Mexico and China, and bronze and silver at the European Championships in the Netherlands (2023) and Serbia (2024) respectively.
Matt, who used to work in a chocolate factory and now works in the family business distributing cheese and other dairy products around Wales, automatically qualified for Paris as one of the top six-ranked male athletes in the +80kg category.
Phil will captain the ParalympicsGB Wheelchair Basketball squad in Paris as the 30-year-old athlete aims for Men’s Team success at the Paralympic Games.
Phil tried lots of different sports as a youngster and excelled at wheelchair tennis. With superb hand-eye coordination, he was soon ranked inside the U18 top three in the world. But it was the team aspect of wheelchair basketball that he enjoyed more and that was to alter his sporting pathway.
Phil made his GB debut in the Men’s B Team at the 2012 Standard Life Continental Clash and a few months later was a flag bearer at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. He then made his debut for the GB first team at the 2014 World Championships in South Korea, before becoming Men’s Team European champions for the first time in 2015 and then making his Paralympic debut in 2016.
Having won silver at the 2017 European Championships, Phil captained GB to gold in the 2018 World Championships in Hamburg, with the Cardiff-born player adding 12 points and 12 assists to the score sheet as they beat Team USA in the final.
In 2019 Phil helped the GB to another European Championship title. He was co-captain of the GB Men’s team that won silver at the 2022 World Championships (played in 2023) and named in the Men’s All-Star Five.
Phil plays for the Amiab Albacete team in Spain, who are the European wheelchair basketball Champions.
If you can answer yes to these questions, then the Disability Sport Wales Performance Pathway team would like to hear from you.
Disability Sport Wales has prided itself on its success at major disability sporting events, winning more medals per capita than any other nation. We want this success to continue, but this can only happen by continuously finding the next generation of talented athletes and nurturing them into reaching their full potential. The Performance Pathway Hub is here is to provide an environment for individuals to learn, grow and develop, to help individuals to identify a sport to participate in and progress in competitive sport, and to give athletes the best possible chance of success at a World, Paralympic or Commonwealth Games. If you are interested in what the Performance Pathway Hub can offer you, please fill in the form below.
Not everyone with an impairment will have what it takes to become a world class athlete, but everyone should at least get the opportunity to try.
Disability Sport Wales wants to hear from every individual who is looking to find out what their potential could be within competitive sport, even if you have never done sport before or you’re looking at transferring to a new one.
Complete the #Inspire form