15/11/2013 Sport Nation

So the clocks have gone back. The shadows lengthening. Winter has well

and truly taken hold. Feeling tired? Uninspired? Time to meet some of

Scotland's super heroes. This is what I can do actually. You show me

that I can't do anything, actually, I can. We hear from Meggan Dawson

Farrell about the obstacles she faced in getting involved in

wheelchair racing. Paralympic sport is moved forward quite a lot and

it's not just disabled people having a bit of fun. It is serious, elite

professional sport. Could Libby Clegg represent Scotland in both

para and able-bodied events at Glasgow 2014? Our main aim at the

moment is to get the semifinal. And the GB wheelchair curling team have

Paralympic glory on their minds. But first, it's 7am in the Borders and

Sammi Kinghorn is getting ready for her morning push. I was involved in

an accident with snow. And it broke my back on two December 2010. I was

only 14. I basically remember my dad dragging me into the house, him

sitting me onto the washing machine and I folded in half. I said to my

mum and dad, I said, "I wrote my back. -- broke. I'm not going to

walk again. You need to phone the ambulance." My mum kept saying, "No,

no, you're just winded." I thought that I was going to be stuck in bed

forever. So that night I planned my life in bed so I thought to myself,

I could set up a business online. Do an online university course. My

physio came with a wheelchair and that was the happiest day of my

life. To see that, to know that I was able to get out of bed. I think

it was harder on my mum and dad than it was on me. It was hard. She got

us through it. She was the one who got us through. We wouldn't have

survived had it not been for her strength. Her reaction seemed

utterly remarkable. Yeah. I don't know where she gets that from.

Definitely not from any of us, I mean, I was absolutely gutted. How

soon did the wheelchair racing coming to be the focus, I guess, of

your life? During the six months of hospital, I went down to Stoke

Mandeville, which is the Spinal Unit Games, it's called, where all the

spinal units, Scotland, England and Ireland all come together and they

do lots of different sports, just basically meeting other people in

the same position as you. That's when I done wheelchair racing for

the first time. I had a little go there and I loved it. And then I

came back to the Southern General and my physio got me in contact with

Ian Murfin, who is my coach now, and the Red Star Club. So I went over

there for just a trial, had a few pushes round the track in my day

chair. And then I went back again and had a go. In someone else's

chair. And that's when I decided it was definitely what I wanted to do.

But all that time, I was always on YouTube looking at racing and I was

hooked. In less than two years, Sammi's gone from novice to

world-class and is the youngest athlete to have been named in the

Scotland Commonwealth Games squad. This was when I was in the Scottish

Farmer. The Scottish Farmer? Yes. You know you've made it when you're

in the Scottish Farmer. I know, definitely. As a child, I'd always

read the Scottish Farmer with my dad because I just used to really enjoy

it. I'm quite proud of everything I've done. I think I thought my

racing was just going to be just a little bit of fun. I didn't think it

would take me this far. What about your award-winning coach, what's he

like to work with, Ian Murfin? Yeah, he's pretty good. We have a laugh,

you know. He knows me. We've been working together for about 20 months

now. So he's getting to know me. He knows when to stay away from me. He

knows when to come near me. We're basically like family now. I've

called him dad a few times by accident. Sorry, Ian. My wife and I

are both involved in disability athletics. I heard a story about a

14-year-old girl in the Borders having an accident. When Sammi came

along to meet us, we actually did know about her because we had seen

it on the TV. Very, very quickly, we thought we will give you a target,

which was the London mini marathon. It was April 2012. She finished

second. The first recollection I've got to thinking, hey, wait a minute

here, we were at a meet at the end of April that year in Gateshead. She

did a 200 metre race and a 100 metre race with the most senior girls we

have got. And she was beaten in a photo finish. These are quite hard.

My dad made them. These have got steel rods right through the middle.

So heavier than most rollers. When you stop pushing, they just stop.

Basically, in a race, get your chair moving as quickly as you can. But

it's harder than on track and on road. How intense is your training

regime now? It's getting more intense because of coming towards

winter. So sessions are getting longer and harder. But I train 12

times a week, not always in my chair. Three days a week I do

strength conditioning so it is pretty intense. I get one day off a

week, so it gives me a little bit of time to relax. What can you still do

on the farm? I basically still do everything I did before. My dad has

been very good. Anything we couldn't do, we just looked at it and

thought, right, we will get this. We will do this. And we'll just change

it. I enjoy helping out, especially in the lambing season. I do a lot of

work for dad in the lambing season. I do the nights and things. This

year, obviously, I was out of hospital, at one point everything

was happening all at once. There were so many sheep lambing that I

just had to catch this sheep. I just flew myself out of the chair and

grabbed on to the sheep. I somehow managed to get it to the floor and

lamb it myself without any help. So I'm completely able as much as I was

before my accident on the farm. How much fun are the puppies? I love

puppies. I've not named it yet. I've not thought of the name. Before my

accident, I was training a dog. She's just had puppies, five

puppies, so Dad said I can have one and train her back-up so that I can

go out on my own quad and bring in the sheep myself. And move them

around without any help at all. The Commonwealth Games is obviously the

focal point for 2014. What are your own feelings about it? I don't think

I will medal. It's a mixed class, so I will be racing people that are an

upper-class than I am. The two classes for the 1,500 metres is a

class which is T53 which is my class, and a T54. T54s have full

ability of their abs so when they are down on their wheelchair, they

can lift their abdominal up and put more pressure basically down through

the wheels. Whereas I don't have any abs. It just means I've got a little

bit less power but I can work on it. It just means getting my arms

stronger and faster. COMMENTATOR: Usain Bolt streaking

away from the field! It's going to be gold for Jamaica!

And Usain Bolt could be racing at the same time? Amazing. I'd love to

meet him. That's my main aim. I'll be at his door knocking. Can you do

the pose? I'll be the proudest dad under the sun for her to be walking

out there with the Scottish kit on. It's what she's wanted. It's another

wee tick box for her. And the nation behind her. Lots of family and

friends are going. I think half of Gordon applied for tickets. But who

won't be there will be watching her on television, definitely. Yeah,

great granny. Yeah, she's too old to come to the Commonwealth with us but

she will be sitting there glued to the telly. I think about it at

night. I can just imagine when they call your name and everyone just

erupting. That feeling I'm going to have, it's going to be pretty

tingling. Meggan Dawson Farrell holds the

Scottish record at every distance in the T54 class. She's had plenty of

obstacles to overcome in her career and her life. Take me back to before

you got into wheelchair racing. What was life like? I'll take you back to

being in primary. I never got PE at all in school. At all. They wouldn't

allow me. I got maybe one. Actually, I'd fallen over one time and that

was it. They wouldn't allow me to do PE ever again becauseit was too much

of a hassle. Health and safety. You'd have all the other kids,

presumably, at school, doing everything else. And I saw them

doing it and I wanted to go and do it, but physically I was not allowed

to do it. I had no friends because even in school, with friends, I had

no friends because I was disabled. And then it changed. How did it

change? My mum and my auntie took me to a sports camp but I didn't know I

was going to a sports camp at first. I just thought I was going on a

little day trip somewhere. They took me. I got to try out some shinty.

Athletics. Basketball. Football. And archery. And some other sports. I

had gone to the sports camp kicking and screaming and not wanting to go.

My mum and my auntie booked into a B just in case I decided I wasn't

having it and that I would run off. And they would have to come and find

me. But, luckily, I never. I had the best time of my life.

The minute Meggan was born, she was premature. We had difficulties with

that. We were told by the consultants that she also had spina

bifida. She needed some intensive care, so that was quite harrowing

and quite horrific. To kind of watch your new baby going through all of

this. It was hard to get your footing and make your mark as a

parent. And everybody looking at you and questioning whether you'd be

able to fulfil your role. Furthermore, Meggan suffers from a

build up of cerebral spinal fluid on the brain which needs to be drained

away by a special tube called a shunt. Ongoing complications with

her shunt has seen her undergo a series of major brain operations.

Described the surgery you have had this year. It has been heavy duty,

hasn't it? In December last year, one week ago, I had a couple of

brain operations. Because I have got a shunt which got blocked. What

would happen if you didn't have that? I would die probably. Does it

need to be dealt with on regular occasions? It shouldn't need to but

I seem to be one of the unlucky ones. The latest surgery happened

one week ago. And you are back on the track already? Yes, last night.

Is that OK with the doctors? They said I could go back as soon as I

felt I was ready, so I had a couple of days. And then I had a week off

when I got home from hospital. I decided I was fed up and wanted to

get back into it. Every day she is challenging herself for the love of

wheelchair racing and sport. Her life isn't going to be hampered with

health issues constantly. To have something which will continually

drive her is a blessing. Is that something you worry about a little

bit, that something might happen? There's always a worry, my goodness,

it's almost time for the Commonwealth games, and I hope

nothing else goes wrong. But, if it does, then I will have to deal with

it. But, fingers crossed for nothing will go wrong. What about your

shoes. My lovely shoes. Is it true Katherine Grainger had to buy them

off you? She did try to buy them off me. She offered me some money for

them. I said no. I like them and didn't want them to be given away. I

said no. I couldn't help noticing you have of socks. I have got of

socks on. Cupcakes and owls. I always wear them. It's a

superstition when I'm racing and stuff. I have to have socks on,

otherwise the race will go wrong. I will always aware of socks. -- where

order socks. As time went off, her peers didn't appreciate. The gap

grew and the older she got, the further apart they became. Meggan

almost shut down and wasn't as social as you would have hoped as a

young girl would be. You seem to be different person from the one who

grew up in school being told you can't take part in sport. I'm a lot

more outgoing. I wouldn't talk to anyone. Even when I started in

athletics, I wouldn't talk to the coach, I wouldn't speak to anyone,

and now they can't shut me up. They tell me to shut up and I don't. You

are a great advert for the power of sport as a life changer. Is that

putting it too strongly? Put it anywhere you want. If you want

something, you should go for it. I wanted to do athletics. In the end,

I'm going for it. Glasgow 2014, all being well, what is the objective

for you? When we first found out I had been selected, and I had made

the qualifying time, we were hoping just to make the final. The 1500

metres. But now, we are kind of hoping to medal but that is my aim.

It's going to be mental and crazy. I want to come out of the stadium

death because everyone shouting. The greatest achievement for us as a

family is looking at the transformation of Meggan, shy and

quiet girl, to a bouncing teenager who was full of life and stories

and, ultimately, who can encourage other young disabled people to get

into other things, not just sport, but realising, if you have ambition

and drive, your life will be so much more fulfilled. It seems that your

life has been a case of overcoming adversity. In a way, has that

created a sense of Brazilians? I don't know, a desire to prove

everybody wrong -- resilience. Yes, this is what I can do, actually. You

show me I can't do something, I can, and it allows me to go and tell

other people, if I can do it, so can you.

Libby Clegg has won silver medals in each of the last two Paralympics.

Her eyesight has been deteriorating since the age of nine. I have got an

eye condition which means the loss of my central vision. I have

peripheral vision, about half a metre of vision in total, really. I

have got a sister and two brothers, and my two younger brothers both

have the same eye condition, but in different degrees, my brothers have

got slightly better side than me. COMMENTATOR: Here comes Libby Clegg.

This day in Beijing was significant for her. And London 2012 was special

for the whole family. So, it is a medal double that Clegg

family this evening. My brother was not expected to get a medal at the

Paralympics, he was taken along for experience, so it was a shock. But

we competed on the same night, and he was competing one hour before me.

I was really pleased for him. It was a bit of a mission for my mum,

because she had to go from the pool to the track, and then back to the

pool for my brother's medal ceremony, and then back to the track

for mine. I think she got a lot of exercise that night. How big a star

is Libby Clegg? Probably the biggest we have got. The nice ring about it

is that Libby is such an unassuming person, I think she is totally

unaware of how good she actually is. What do you expect of her at

Glasgow? Will be more importantly, what she expect? Her expectation has

to be high. I would not be putting pressure on any athlete, but Libby

has to be looking at a gold medal. As a sprinter, she has got herself

to the very highest echelons of the sport. She is ranked number one, she

is special. Lets talk about your guide runner. How does it work,

logistically? The easiest way to do is write it is like doing a three

legged waste, but being attached at the wrist. -- a three legged race.

But you have to be running in sync and flat out, so it takes a lot of

fine tuning. My guide is not allowed to drag me, is not allowed to

slingshot me, which is a new rule which came in after London, not

allowed to throw you over the line. You are not allowed in us to gauge a

guide ropes, and also my guide is not allowed to cross the line before

me. It is a lot of pressure and a lot of responsibility. During the

race, during those 12 seconds, what is going on? When I start my race,

he does communicate with me. When we run together, I can put too much

strain on him, and if I put too much pressure on him with my weight, if I

lean on him too much, I can cause him back problems. He constantly

talks to me. Obviously, that is a skill in itself because you have to

be able to run at the same speed, he has to change his stride length, he

has got to be really flexible, but he also has to tell me when to dip,

when we are coming to the finish line, because that can make the

difference. It is kind of like having somebody whispered in your

ear the whole time what you are supposed to be doing, which can be

really helpful, and a lot of people would love that, but they do not

realise how much work goes into it, and I am really hard work. Really?

Yes, definitely. And bossy. It almost sounds like a husband and

wife kind of thing. Is kind of is like that, you have to communicate

really well. But I think communication is the key to most

relationships and friendships. COMMENTATOR: She is not running with

a guide runner today, which may not too long ago, you had to run without

your guide one, so what happened? The night before I was due to race

here, he pulled his hamstring while we were practising with the start

blocks. We had only just flown in from South Africa. I made a decision

to run on my own. It was really quite scary. Just because I have not

run on my own since before 2006. So, one of the last times I ran on my

own in a race, I actually fell over. I was running in lane one and I

ended up in lane eight. I was worried, and I had never actually

run indoors before, so it was a bit scary. Libby Clegg, trying to strike

back. But the Brazilian gets it. I would have run a lot but with him. I

was really good form. It is just one of those things, you need to get on

with it and do your job. You are an incredibly fast runner, in fact, I

believe the fourth fastest in Scotland. Yes, I am ranked pretty

high in Scotland in able-bodied as well. So, if Scotland had entered a

100 metres relay team, they would have to pick you? Well, I think it

would cause some controversy, but I think it would be interesting to put

that spanner in the works and see potentially what could happen. It

will be an interesting one. Can she use a guide runner? I do not know.

Let's see where that rings us, it would be a nice problem to have.

Logistics would be, you would need space for him on the track. I have

no but it would show that Paralympic sport has moved forward quite a lot,

and it is not just disabled people having a bit of fun and turning up

to competitions, it is serious, elite, official sport.

It is no surprise that Scottish athletes excel in a sport where low

temperatures are crucial. The GB curling side is comprised entirely

of Scots, and they are in the midst of preparations for the Winter

Paralympics in Russia in March. A popular presence in curling

circles, Tom has been wheelchair-bound since he was a

teenager. My father died and left me quite a bit of money. I thought I

would buy a nice flashy car. I had a road accident and I smashed my back

and I have been in a wheelchair since 1967. How did you cope with

it? Fiddled at first. I played a lot of football before my accident, that

not a bad level. -- difficult. Finding yourself in a wheelchair as

a teenager is really quite difficult. Being a teenager, it is

very difficult to adjust, for a good couple of years, for me anyway. What

was your attitude about it? My attitude was fine, I was pretty

lucky, because sport came along about one year after, and the

Scottish Paraplegic Association invited me to come along and play

basketball, table tennis, and I started to go all over the world. I

just had the attitude, there is nothing else you can do anyway. Most

sports people are lucky to have had one international career, but Tom

has had nearly half a dozen. In my younger days, I played basketball,

table tennis and fencing for Great Britain. I was lucky enough to get

medals in my first two Olympics for fencing, and I have carried on ever

since. I took 20 years off, got married, had a family etc, and I got

back into curling just a few years ago, ten years ago. I started in

2004, following a chance meeting with a friend at Braehead, and they

asked me to go along to the curling club. In 2005, I was selected for

the Scotland team to go to the World Championships, where we won a gold

medal. This will be my fifth Olympics in total. It has been a

great success. I have been all over the world, met lots of new friends

and I am still friends with people from other countries. What would you

say is the high point of your curling career? Obviously winning

the World Championship here in Scotland was a great honour. And

then, in 2006, we were in the final with one shot to go to win the gold,

and unfortunately we missed and came back with the silver, but it was

still a pinnacle of my career. Aileen will become the first female

captain of a GB team at the games. Her coach Tony is literally counting

the days. We are down to about 125 sleeps if my maths is good. It has

been very busy so far. We selected early and tried to give the core

four athletes as much time as possible to play together. We are

getting between 60-80 games in as a squad before we get to Sochi, which

will be the most we have ever played as a cohesive unit going into a

Games. Much more travel, two trips over to Canada, which we have not

done previously. So, very, very extensive preparation. We are doing

six hours a day, and that is a regular programme for us during the

week when we are back in Scotland. Can the team win gold at the Winter

Olympics? I think the team has got the ability to put in a solid

performance. That is what we are worried about. We are looking at,

technically, are we the most proficient team, tactically, are we

making the right calls, and then within the team, do we have the best

dynamics to allow those for athletes to be able to achieve their

potential technically and tactically? Yes, we have seen it,

however, if we do not focus, then the medals become dreams, not we're

letting. So, it can be a reality? It can. -- not reality. You have been

there, you have done it - what chances of success are there at the

Winter Olympics? Looking at the last three tournaments we have been at, a

lot of the teams from those are going, and we have managed to come

out on top. The chances are, not being too optimistic Emma but it

would be really good to get to a semifinal. That is our main aim at

the moment. Anything from there would be brilliant. You can lose a

semifinal and get nothing, but if you win, you are guaranteed either

gold or silver. You have had hammering illustrious career, in

different sports, and now you have been fully inducted into parasport

's royalty in Scotland. Yes, I was inaugurated into the Hall of Fame

last year, which is the first time it has ever been done. I was one of

the first 20 entries into that, and it is one of the pinnacles of my

career. There is not many people get the chance to do that. To be one of

the first in, I am so happy, so, so proud. It would be a massive boost

if you could go on and get gold once again. Hopefully, that is the aim.

Find out how to get involved in sport in your area on the BBC

website... Live life to the full, no matter what. If you get something

chronic just deal with it then and see what happens. Paralympic sport

has moved forward quite a lot. It is not just disabled people having a

bit of fun, it is serious, elite, professional sport. I do not want to

be known for my accident, I want