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The British Paralympic Association today announced the selection
of the first three British athletes to compete at the Torino 2006
Paralympic Winter Games. Natives were thrilled to be invited along!
 Elite
athletes named
Phil Lane, Chief Executive of the British Paralympic Association,
announced that Russell Docker, Sean Rose and Liz
Miller will compete in the Alpine skiing events in Torino.
Their selection was announced today at a reception
in London for the British Paralympic Association and Disability
Snowsport UK hosted by the Italian Ambassador to the UK.
Mr Lane said"We're delighted to have three skiers who have qualified
for the next Paralympic Winter Games and I'm pleased to welcome
Russell, Sean and Liz as the first three members of the ParalympicsGB
team for Torino."
Warm Italian welcome
The Italian Ambassador made a fantastic speech welcoming us all
to a little bit of Italian soil and congratulated the athletes and
everyone who works so hard alongside them and behind the scenes
for this fabulous achievement.
Russell was one of only two GB athletes competing at Salt Lake City
in 2002, while Sean and Liz make their Paralympic Winter Games debuts
in Torino. All three athletes are members of the British
Adaptive Ski Team, which is run by national ski charity Disability
Snowsport UK.
 Russell
Docker
Sit skier Russell, 38, from Blandford Forum in Dorset, had the biggest
win of his skiing career in April of this year when he won gold
in the Super-G event at the European Cup Final in Austria. He believes
he has a good chance of winning a medal in Torino.
"It's great news to be selected to represent my country again. It
was my goal for the season to make sure I qualified and I'm really
looking forward to it," he said. "My goal for Salt Lake City was
to get there, but my skiing has improved 10-fold since then, so
I'm going to Torino with the intention of getting a medal."
 Sean
Rose
Sean, 34, from Northampton, also competes in the sit skiing
events. A former ski instructor with the Royal Air Force, Sean used
to run the RAF's winter survival school training programme in Bavaria,
before breaking his back in a skiing accident in 2000. Sean won
the Super-G event at the Silver Star NorAm in Canada in January.
Liz Miller
Liz, 25, who lives in Brockenhurst in Hampshire, lost her left leg
below the knee following a skiing accident in 1997. She started
skiing again two years later. A stand-up skier, she uses a prosthetic
leg made specially for skiing.
 Liz
won a hat-trick of titles at the British Adaptive Ski Championships
in Meribel in France in March, taking the ladies slalom title, the
ladies downhill title and the ladies overall title. She also finished
sixth in the downhill event at the World Cup in Klosters in Switzerland
in March.
"Torino is going to be quite nerve-wracking, but I've been working
hard for it for six years and it's going to be an amazing experience."
Good luck to Russell, Sean and Liz
There were plenty of best wishes for the athletes as they begin
the long season of training towards their goals in Italy next year.
Snowsport GB, Scope, The Uphill Ski Club, Disability Snowsports,
Konrad Bartelski and Rupert Longsden were all on hand to congratulate
the athletes and wish them well.
Iain (Natives) and Rupert (Oxford Ski) |
Phil (BPA) and Konrad |
Liz is announced for the team |
The Winter Games 2006
The IX Winter Paralympic Games take place in Torino from 10th to
19th March. Great Britain had another outstandingly successful summer
Games at Athens 2004, finishing second in the overall medals table
behind China and winning 94 medals - 35 golds, 30 silvers and 29
bronzes. The British Paralympic Association is sponsored by easynet
and Visa, and is also supported by lottery funding through UK Sport.
Great Britain will also take a curling team to Torino
following Scotland's victory in the World Championships in Glasgow
in January, although the individual team members have not yet been
selected.
Find out more at the BPA website www.paralympics.org.uk.
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