From 1970s PE to Paris: A career at the heart of the Paralympic movement

“I have seen some amazing competitions and performances in Paris. Even after 30 or 40 years of involvement in paralympics sport, what you see sometimes defies belief…such outstanding athletes. The levels of skill, perseverance and endurance are extraordinary.”

Bob also casts an experienced eye over the administration of the events, and found the Paris Games a fitting platform for the outstanding sporting prowess on display.

“What was amazing about Paris was the way they converted historic buildings into temporary sporting facilities. Sitting inside the Grand Palais to watch fencing, seeing the archery with the Eiffel Tower at one end and Hotel des Invalides at the other, witnessing the finish of the triathlon on the splendid Pont Alexandre III, the swimming pool built in a concert hall which hosted Taylor Swift a few weeks earlier.  It is so impressive that they made those places accessible and inclusive sporting venues.”

Bob was invited to Paris as a member of the Paralympic Order, which acknowledges those who laid the foundations for the incredible spectacle the world is enjoying today.

“Giving medals is a great honour, and a reminder just how much it means to the athletes. One of the gold medalists was visibly shaking, crying through her national anthem and overcome with emotion. It is so moving.”  

“I am fortunate enough to be reminded from time to time that I did have a role in the paralympic movement. I look at the national and global institutions, we helped to grow now and say ‘well we can’t have done an altogether bad job.”

Seeds planted on Headingley Campus

Bob’s interest in disabled sport grew while studying for a Physical Education degree from the Carnegie School of Sport, graduating in 1970.

Bob cites luck as playing a big part in his professional and paralympic lives. A typical example is the chance encounter on campus which first introduced him to disability.

“Once a week, a busload of children from a local school came into Carnegie.  All the PE students waited at the pool, and whoever came out of the cubicles next was yours for the next hour to teach some basic swimming. On one occasion, the door opened and there was a young boy about ten with only one leg. I’d never had anything to do with disability before, but I told him to get in the pool and we went from there.

“And then I took a module on ‘the education of handicapped children’ – which was the terminology then – which involved going to Pinderfields’ spinal injury centre and it just began to grow…the realisation that these children would really benefit from more exercise and activity.”

Bob then found a newly-built school for disabled children which also wanted to do things differently, advertising for a PE teacher rather than provide the more common medical, physiotherapy-driven approach. He then built connections which led him to Stoke Mandeville, where the foundation for what would become the Paralympic movement had already been laid by Dr. Ludwig Guttmann.

Growing the games with Team GB

Bob’s first games as head of Great Britain’s delegation was in the US in 1984, and the contrast with the modern day games is stark.

“The BBC sent film crew to New York. Five people, headed by Cliff Morgan. It seems like nothing now - a 20 minute documentary, aired on BBC 2 three months after we came home. People nowadays think you must have been angry or frustrated or something, but it was quite the opposite. We were actually delighted because there hadn't been any coverage before.

Bob identified Seoul 88 as another major turning point. Together with his friend and colleague Tony Sainsbury, they realised a vision of a single team of Paralympians characterized by sport rather than disability. With echoes of his professional desire to move away from medically-oriented PE provision, Bob pushed for a ‘sports-first’ approach to the Paralympic team.

“We thought breaking things down by disability group rather than by sport was a nonsense, that we had to do something to bring together a single GB team for future editions of the Paralympic Games, and that was our project really for Seoul.

“We wanted to ensure that a single GB team went to Seoul and it didn't matter whether they were blind or amputee or wheelchair users or what, they all identified with each other as members of the same GB team.”

On top of that achievement, the athletes were now using the same facilities and a similar uniform to their Olympic counterparts, meaning the two were now ‘much closer, in spirit and location.’

Seoul also marked the first time paralympic athletes performed in front of packed audiences – something which continued in Barcelona and beyond.

National Lottery changes the game

Following Seoul, Bob helped to create the BPA - staffed by volunteers in a Croydon office donated by British Telecom - which was then able to join the international Paralympic committee which formed a few months later. These would be transformed before the end of the century, with the newly-created National Lottery providing the opportunity for professional staff and support for elite athletics.

Bob continued the drive for a sports-first approach, drawing in national sporting governing bodies to provide the leadership, coaching and resources to paralympic athletes on a sport-by-sport basis. 

The success of the approach was on full display again in Paris, which has set a high standard for the next games in LA. Bob is very confident that LA will be a far cry from what happened in 1984. 

“There is no doubt that in LA there will be a very memorable Olympic and Paralympic games.  And there are of course winter games as well in between – which are too often overlooked.”

Read more about Leeds Beckett's role in Paris 2024