6:26pm Thursday 28th August 2008
By Clive White
An archer who took up the sport just five years ago is representing team GB in Beijing for the Paralympic games.
Danielle Brown is among the 11-strong archery squad and flew out yesterday, ahead of the games which begin on Saturday, September 6.
The 20 year-old, from Lothersdale, is a member of the Aire Valley Archers, who shoot at South Craven School, Cross Hills, near Skipton, and St Ives, Bingley. She suffers from reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which affects her ability to stand.
Danielle is already a medal-winner, having won two golds shooting the compound bow at the world championships in Korea, in 2007. She is currently women’s open compound world champion.
Her mum, Elizabeth, said: “She is very determined. That determination is there all the time.
“She loves the sport. She can’t miss a day shooting – she is driven to do well and achieve.
“Her long-term aim is to be able to shoot in competition against able-bodied archers.”
Danielle took up the sport because of her fascination with movies such as Lord of the Rings, in which there are scenes of fencing and shooting with a longbow.
Elizabeth said: “She was interested in fencing at first but because of her condition took up archery. She had to sign a contract to do so much practice a day and she has. She loves the sport.”
Danielle had deferred starting her law degree to focus on Beijing, she said.
Head coach and archery team manager Tim Hazell said: “Danielle is a superb young talent and just gets better and better. She is looking to add to her gold at the worlds.”
ParalympicsGB will be represented in 18 of the 20 sports in Beijing, including five-a-side football for the first time and rowing, which makes its games debut.
The archery competition is at the Olympic Green Archery Field between Tuesday, September 9, and Monday, September 15. At the Athens Paralympic Games in 2004, Britain finished second in the medal table with 35 gold, 30 silver and 29 bronze medals.
e.mail: clive.white@telegraphandargus.co.uk
Also Beijing-bound is wheelchair basketball player Pete Finbow, of Holme Wood, Bradford.
Pete, pictured with the bronze medal he won at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, has been a wheelchair-user since he broke his spine in a car accident.
He plays point guard or guard position for the Oldham Owls and also won bronze in the 2003 European Championships and silver in the 2002 World Championships in Japan.
He was a Great Britain Junior from 1993 to 1997, and won his first senior cap, of which he now has more than 40, in 2002.
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