Robyn Love is passionate about building on London 2012 legacy after being inspired to take up wheelchair basketball from home Games… now she’s out to right the wrongs of previous GB near-misses
- Robyn Love, 31, is part of ParalympicGB’s wheelchair basketball team
- The Ayr-born Paralympian suffers from arthrogryposis which affects her legs
- She does not use a wheelchair in daily life but is still eligible to compete
- Love did not know she could be a Paralympian until she watched London 2012
When whispers began last year that the Paralympics may not take place in Tokyo, Robyn Love and her GB wheelchair basketball team-mates were already in Japan, competing in the Osaka Cup.
They were building towards correcting a series of near-misses; fourth in Rio, silver at the European Championships, silver at the worlds — defeated in each by Holland.
But Love, 31, insists they benefited from the delay, even though they had not competed against another nation for 18 months.
Robyn Love (left) is hoping GB’s wheelchair basketball team can finally get gold in Tokyo
GB’s women’s team have had several near misses in recent years, including fourth place in Rio
‘If we were to compete against ourselves of last year, we’d smash us,’ she says. ‘We went from training all the time to training smarter. We’ve discovered our individual identities. It’s given us confidence away from basketball, which we’ve brought to the court.’
Tokyo is Love’s second Paralympics. She suffers from arthrogryposis — a condition that has reduced the muscle function in her right leg, which is shorter than her left.
Wheelchair basketball combines a spectrum of disabilities in one team, from amputees to able-bodied players.
Love, from Ayr, does not use a wheelchair in her daily life and did not know she was eligible to play wheelchair basketball until watching the London Games aged 22.
Love suffers from arthrogryposis – a condition which means her right leg is shorter than her left
‘I’m a London 2012 legacy piece,’ she says. ‘I love able-bodied sport but there was something so sexy about wheelchair basketball.’
Growing up, she wanted to be a PE teacher and used sport to challenge the limitations of her disability.
‘I either had a racket in my hand or a ball at my feet,’ she says. ‘Sport for me was this vehicle where I could prove to myself that I wasn’t disabled because I was better than others with a ball. But when it came to athletics, others were better than me because of my disability.
‘I remember crying aged 14, refusing to do sports day. It was my pride.’
Love once turned down the chance to do sports day, now she’s competing in the Tokyo Games
In wheelchair basketball, Love found a sport in which she could utilise her hand-eye co-ordination without the obstacle of running.
Her GB side made it to the quarter-finals, where yesterday’s defeat by China ended their hopes of a medal but they compete in the seventh-place play-off against Spain tomorrow. The tournament is being played in empty arenas, but Love would not have brought her family anyway, adding: ‘I’d feel awful bringing them halfway across the world only to see them for two minutes.’
It is the father of her partner and team-mate Laurie Willams whose absence she will have been feeling the most. He passed away in June.
Love is supporting her partner Laurie Williams (above) whose father passed away in June
Love’s family did not travel to Rio, so he wore a shirt with Love’s name on the back throughout the tournament. Laurie is using a yellow chair in Tokyo as a tribute, a nod to his favourite colour.
‘In a way, I’m glad no parents can come, it means he won’t be missing,’ said Love. ‘I try to look for the positives — I can support Laurie through her first tournament without him.’
Love hopes these Games will lead to more sporting opportunities for disabled children at school.
‘There are still lots of disabled kids who aren’t included in PE at school,’ she says. ‘I don’t understand why. Able-bodied kids can play para sports.’
British Wheelchair Basketball’s Inspire a Generation programme will give thousands of people the opportunity to try the sport for the first time.
To find your closest session or register for an event, visit inspireageneration.com