Exmouth’s David heading for Paralympics
Paralympian David Hill. Picture credit British Triathlon. - Credit: Archant
An Exmouth athlete will be returning to the biggest stage in sport when he competes at the Paralympic Games in Rio.
David Hill, 27, will be competing in the paratriathlon - swimming, cycling and running.
David, who was born without a left hand and forearm, will be attending his second Paralympics, having previously competed in Athens, aged just 15.
He went to Athens as a swimmer, but after missing out on London 2012, he decided to change sport.
David said: “I was frustrated at my results and didn’t want to come to hate swimming.
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“Triathlon has the element of swimming, but it’s got a variety of training to really enjoy.”
Having competed in his first triathlon in May 2013, David received support from British Triathlon – but it was still a hard slog to qualify for the Paralympic team.
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When asked for his reaction to qualifying, David said: “I’m a bit relieved, quite frankly, because the standard is extremely high, not just in Britain, but around the world. I had really tough competition.”
With retirement a strong possibility after the games, David, who grew up in Exmouth and trains in Loughborough, says his goal is to enjoy himself, and put in a performance that reflects the work it’s taken to get there. “Retirement is probably on the cards, so the aim is to do a performance which reflects the training I have done, and to really, really enjoy it. A happy athlete is a fast athlete. I just want to do a performance where I can say ‘I really enjoyed that’.”
