Tokyo twice: A gold medal in wheelchair what?

 

Ouch, The Cabin Fever Podcast

Tokyo Twice: A Gold Medal in Wheelchair What?

bbc.co.uk/ouch/podcast

 

Presented by Beth Rose 

 

INTRO -

So, with about three weeks to go I got sort of catapulted in and I arrived in Tokyo not even sure which sports I was doing. There was no money, there was hardly any media coverage, sponsorship. Not many people had heard of the Games, and it was covered, if it was covered at all, as a human interest story, rather than sport. And I’m glad to say that’s changed.

 

[Music]

BETH -

Do you want to know something amazing? This year’s Paralympic Games is the second time Tokyo’s played host. The first was back in 1964. That’s 57 years ago. You’re listening to BBC Ouch with me, Beth Rose. On this episode I’m chatting to Caz Walton, a legendary Paralympian. She was just a 17 year old wheelchair user when she got a last minute call up to Tokyo in 1964. But Tokyo was just the beginning of Caz’s career. She went on to win ten gold Paralympic medals. And that’s not all. There’s also a potential 11th in the offing too. It’s a bit of a mysterious story. And guess what? Caz is still part of Para GB. In fact, she’s out in Tokyo right now as we speak, supporting the team on the management side.

 

[Music]

BETH -

It’s not your first time going to a Tokyo Games, because in 1964 Tokyo hosted the Paralympics and you were there not just in one sport, but several sports, which in itself is really surprising. So let’s go right back. So how did you even get involved in disability sport and the Paralympics?

caz -

Through a contact at my hospital, which was Great Ormond Street, because I think it was one of the physios recommended that I start to do sport as rehab. And then they also mentioned that there was something going on at Stoke Mandeville and maybe I ought to go and have a look at it and try and get involved, to cut a very long story short. That was the hook really, that was it, because once I got there I knew that’s what I wanted to do for life, not just as an athlete, but as… Well, I’m just so lucky to have the job that I do, because I now effectively have a hobby as a job, and I get paid for it.

BETH -

That’s the best thing all round.

caz -

It is. Yes, it is. [Laughs]

BETH -

So how old were you when your physio said, “Oh, go and have a look at what they’re doing at Stoke Mandeville”?

caz -

I was about 14, maybe 15, I think at that stage. And we hadn’t got a car, so it wasn’t an easy journey. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Stoke Mandeville, but it’s not the easiest place in the world to get to. My word, it was worth it. I was a last minute selection for Tokyo, because I actually replaced an athlete who was unlucky enough to go sick. So with about three weeks to go I got sort of catapulted in and I arrived in Tokyo not even sure which sports I was doing.

beth -

I’m so intrigued to hear what going to Tokyo was like in 1964. I mean, especially because you were a teenager as well weren’t you as well, so that must have just been really eye opening?

caz -

Well it was very exciting for a start, especially as I hadn’t expected to go. But I think, because the world was much less accessible than it is nowadays, and public transport wasn’t accessible we really didn’t get out too much from the village, so we didn’t see that much of Tokyo or Japan in general, although we did have a coach trip up to Mount Fuji, which I clearly remember; It’s beautiful. I’d love to go there again, but I don’t think that’s going to happen this time.

BETH -

No, I don’t think so.

caz -

No, unfortunately not. But my main memory is how hard the Japanese tried to make it a good Games for us, how friendly they were, how hospitable, and I just have very warm feelings about Japan, and I’m looking forward from that perspective to going back again. I have been out since. I went three years ago to do an access recce for the team, and the people are just so pleasant and hospitable and helpful, which came as a surprise to me, but I loved it. And I had a Japanese pen pal for, oh, probably 20 years, sadly lost in the mists of time now. But no, I’m looking forward to going back, and I just hope it’s a really good Games for all the athletes.

BETH -

Well the Japanese citizens I’ve spoken to are now really enjoying the Games, so hopefully that’ll make for a really successful Paralympics. What was the actual travel like when you were flying out there and that sort of access? I mean, it’s a really long flight isn’t it? It’s like 13 hours I think? Or it is these days, it may have been longer.

caz -

It was longer, because we flew to Prestwick in Scotland and then we flew over the Pole, stopped in Alaska, Anchorage, and then on to Tokyo. So it seemed that we took days to get there. And coming back was even worse because we developed an engine fault somewhere over the ocean, and had to turn back to Tokyo to have the engine repaired. You’d never be allowed to do it now, but we stayed on the plane while they mended the aircraft. And then we took off again and so I think it literally added about nine or ten hours to the journey.

BETH -

Wow.

caz -

So to say we were tired was an understatement, but I don’t know, somehow we were all so excited by going somewhere so strange and exciting. Going out and looking forward to the Games. And it’s still one of the best Games I’ve been to because the village was great, and very accessible. We stayed in bungalows and we got single rooms. Now all of that, even to this day is quite a novelty, and it was very efficiently run. Lots of volunteers, and it was years before we had another Games that even came close to being as good as that one.

BETH -

So what sports did you end up doing then?

caz -

I did field events, which I’d never done before. I picked up a discus and wasn’t quite sure how to throw it; fortunately didn’t kill anybody. I did track as well, which was much more my forte. Swimming. And I also did, if I remember rightly, table tennis, another sport that I’d only done a couple of times. But, I mean, primarily in those days I was a swimmer.

BETH -

Because now you get athletes who might move between sports. You know, they’ll have a career in swimming and then they’ll move into canoeing or a combination like that, but the fact that you were juggling all these sports at once and were quite new to some of them, that just is so extraordinary in 2021.

caz -

It is. You never hear of it now. As you say, people, when they’re coming to the end of a career in one sport they can move over, and that in itself is not unusual, but in ’64 it wasn’t unusual for us to do a number of sports. I mean, that was my first Paralympic Games, but carrying on from there I obviously wanted to train as hard as possible whilst juggling sort of work and other commitments. I would literally be training most evenings and weekends. And it wasn’t that I was dabbling in the sports, I really took it seriously, because otherwise how can you be successful if you don’t work at it and get to know the sport and get to know the technique. And it doesn’t come overnight.

And also, I mean, you talked about doing a number of sports being quite surprising. There was no money, there was hardly any media coverage or sponsorship. Not many people had heard of the Games and it was covered, if it was covered at all, as a human interest story rather than sport, and I’m glad to say that’s changed. But because there was no money in the sport we couldn’t afford to have specialists in any one competition. So in order to get selected you had to do three, four, maybe even five different sports.

beth -

Am I right in saying that one of your, not sports, one of your events in ’64 was the wheelchair slalom?

caz -

It was. It’s not an event that’s done anymore now.

BETH -

Is it what I’m imagining? Is it like a track event and you’re weaving between cones or something?

caz -

Yeah, it’s like a skiing event. A skiing slalom, but on dry land rather than snow. And I actually really enjoyed it, because you needed agility as well as speed, and there has been talk recently of bringing it back as an event, and I hope they do because I think it’s something that the public would enjoy viewing. And certainly as an athlete I enjoyed doing it, and did for many years.

BETH -

It’s flat, you do it on a flat track? It’s not downhill like a skiing slalom or anything?

caz -

No, it isn’t. There usually are steps or ramps to negotiate as part of the course.

BETH -

Oh, okay. Yeah, no it does sound interesting. I think it would be popular.

caz -

I think it would. It’s visually quite exciting.

BETH -

Yeah, and did you have crowds that came to cheer on the athletes?

caz -

We did have spectators. I wouldn’t call them crowds. We had a reasonable crowd at the opening ceremony, which was nice, and a novelty for us. I don’t know whether they came to watch the sport and the athletes, or whether they came because the Crown Prince and Princess of Japan were there at that time. It really makes me feel old when I remember how handsome he was, and well, she was beautiful as well, and he’s just retired as Emperor now, having got to an age where he thinks he’s too old to do the job. And I think, crumbs, you know, he was a young handsome man then, and in some ways it doesn’t seem that long ago. 

BETH -

Well, I saw some footage, I was watching a video actually which you were in, and it really doesn’t look that old, the footage, either.

caz -

Well it’s in colour which is a bonus.

BETH -

It is in colour, yeah. Even the kit didn’t really look that dated. I was watching some of the fencing, and so obviously that doesn’t change hugely.

caz -

No.

BETH -

That was quite amazing, because it is a number of years ago now.

caz -

It is a number of years ago now, and your comments make me feel less ancient, thankfully. [Laughter]

BETH -

Good.

caz -

I mean, the uniform has changed immensely as far as everyday wear is concerned, because for the opening ceremony you always wore slacks or a skirt and a blazer, blouse and tie. Even the girls had to wear a tie, which I hated with a vengeance. And it was a bottle green blazer, and mostly we had to give the blazer back after the end of the Games, and it was held sort of centrally. And we also had bottle green tracksuits, which you had to buy yourselves. That was about the extent of the uniform. What a change today where you get bags full of kit, quite rightly so. And I still look at it with amazement when it arrives on the doorstep. I think gosh, how lucky am I?

When the Stoke Mandeville Games, as they were in those days, started they had a Stoke Mandeville Games flag which was bottle green, red and yellow I think. I might not be completely accurate in that, but certainly it had bottle green in it, so whether it came from that I really don’t know. I don’t know what the origins are of that. Suffice to say, it did not concur with my taste.

BETH -

And how did you feel after the Games? Did it make you change the perception of yourself or disability sports? Did you feel like the world was a bit more open to all the talents you and everyone else had?

caz -

It had an immense effect on me actually I think, because it gave me a feeling of self-worth and confidence, but it also was hugely, and I think still is today, a social integrator. And quite apart from the fact that I’m fairly keen on sport anyway, it was totally additive to me, and I learnt so much. I think you do learn from going to other countries and cultures and you learn how alike people are and how unalike as well. But it teaches you that difference is a good thing. Majorly for me it just gave me so much confidence and ability to interact with other people on a much better footing. And it literally did change my life.

BETH -

I was really intrigued to hear about Tel Aviv and the missing medal.

caz -

Oh, do you know, until about six or seven years ago I had not a clue, because the Games were not scrupulously recorded, would be a kind way of putting it. So with the results you just accepted what you were told. It was in pentathlon and there was no sort of daily total of how you’d done in each sport. I never did know what my overall score was, anyway just that I’d… I think I’d got a bronze. And it wasn’t until somebody from, the University of Bedfordshire I think, got in touch with me and said, “Do you know that you should have had another medal in Tel Aviv?” and I thought, well it’s so long ago now, you know, what can you do about it? And it was a Brit that won it, so to a certain extent it didn’t matter. It was more intriguing than anything else to learn that I should have won it, but the athlete that did get the gold was an extremely good athlete and British, so I can’t argue with that, and more power to her elbow. But as I say, until about six or seven years ago I just didn’t know; a complete surprise.

BETH -

At the time did you think, oh I thought I did a bit better in the swimming or the running?

caz -

Yeah, it was the swimming. They didn’t add the swimming result on.

BETH -

Which is quite significant, I would say.

caz -

Well, it would have been, it would have been. But I didn’t particularly think that because, as I say, we were doing so many sports in those days that you’re almost, there’s no rest period or anything, you’re almost bouncing from one sport to another. And I just didn’t give it a thought. And I think too I’d picked up three gold medals in Tel Aviv and I was so pleased with the success I’d had that it didn’t have the impact that perhaps it would have done if it had been the only medal that I’d got.

BETH -

And has anyone from the International Paralympic Committee been in touch since?

caz -

No. I’m not sure that they even know about it. I think somebody put it on Wikipedia. That wasn’t even me either. No, I think it’s an awful long time ago isn’t it?

BETH -

And also, I mean, it is a great tale. You may not have got the medal but you’ve got a good story out of it, so that’s quite good.

caz -

Yes. Well, I’ve just had a great career and I’m just so thankful and so lucky.

BETH -

And then of course you went on to compete in many more Games as well.

caz -

Yeah. I’ve been very, very lucky in that respect and didn’t actually retire as an athlete until 1992. And then, with all the luck in the world, I moved into a job where I could still go to Paralympic Games. And I must say, it’s a lot easier being an athlete than an administrator. [Laughter]

beth -

I can believe that. Yeah, you’ve got a lot of responsibility on your shoulders.

caz -

Yes, I didn’t have to worry about anybody but myself as an athlete. It’s a whole different ballgame nowadays.

BETH -

How are this year’s cohorts doing? Have you spoken to anyone or got a general sense of the feeling?

caz -

Yeah, I think quite a few people really, both staff and athletes, and I think there was a certain nervousness because things change so much from day to day with the circumstances and COVID and the way things have been. But the nearer we’ve got, and I think also with the success of the Olympics, because it has been a success and it has gone well, and I thought there’d be no atmosphere, but I was wrong because there certainly is. And I think everybody’s confidence has grown and there’s a real feeling of excitement now. Every Games is different, but every Games is the same in that respect. And we’ve got quite a, I think probably something like 50% of the team is first timers, which is quite a large percentage. And I really, really hope that it’s a good experience for them. I really, really hope it’s successful as well because the more media coverage we get then the more we can influence people’s perspective and perception, and change the world.

 

[Music]

BETH -

I loved chatting to Caz. It was so interesting finding out about 1964. And I know the athletes out in Tokyo this year in 2021 will definitely appreciate having her wisdom on their side. We’ve got a couple of other Paralympic podcasts for you on the BBC Ouch stream, and there’ll be a new one in a couple of days’ time too about the boccia brothers. That’s Jamie and Scott McCowan and their parents, who are all going for gold in Tokyo. Don’t forget, you can always keep in touch with us and let us know what you’re thinking. You can find us on Twitter @bbcouch. Just search BBC Ouch on Facebook, and you can email us too, ouch@bbc.co.uk. Speak to you soon.