A Salford University student has won a silver medal at the World Transplant Games in the 3km race walk.
Lucy Ryan, 33, a mature student in theatre and performance at Salford University, came back to Salford from Perth, Australia with a silver medal, sixth place, and an unforgettable experience.
Ms Ryan said: “I think I’m still probably processing it all because at high school they made you do these horrible bleep tests and thinking back I was like below average, so I wasn’t good at PE.
“So to have gone from that to be competing for Team Great Britain just feels a bit like that would happen in my wildest dreams.”
Ms Ryan, who at the age of three survived a heart transplant for which her parents were told she “might get five years”, had previously barely imagined the opportunity of participating in the international athletics’ event.
However, after training and raising the funds to go to Australia on her own, on April 20th and 21st she faced a 3km race walk, 100m sprint, and the ball throw.
She achieved 6th place in the sprint and second place on the racewalk, giving the team of Great Britain one of its 288 medals won at the event.
The World Transplant Games do not only serve to celebrate the accomplishments of the participants and their lives with transplanted organs but also celebrate and appreciate the lives of the donors.
Ms Ryan highlighted how important and persistent this appreciation was during the games, she said: “I think everyone was friendlier than I thought they would be, obviously people were a bit competitive.
“But, when you’ve already got that connection because you’ve all had transplants and been through something, it becomes a much more friendly atmosphere than if you’re in a, another kind of national or competitive sport event.”
Ms Ryan is pictured and shown to have won the gold medal, which was due to a short error where she was mistaken as the gold medal winner.
Lucy believes that even if she had not won anything, she believes she did her absolute best. She said: “It’s probably quite easy to say it when you’ve won a medal, but it’s almost nicer getting your own personal best because you’re competing against yourself.
“Because again, on the day, anything can happen, and it also depends on who you’re competing against and how they feel like someone could have been unwell or something.”
Recently Ms Ryan also recently marked another accomplishment for herself, having skydived 10,000 metres while at one point freefalling for 30 seconds. One second marking every year of her life with the transplant.
The skydive was to gain funds to pay back her trip to Perth, Australia, with the rest of collected funds being charity to Transplant Sport the organisation running the British and World Transplant Games and its volunteers.
Now Ms Ryan continues to prepare for the next British Transplant Games in July.
Dr. Paul Harden, one of Team GB & NI’s Doctors, board member of the World Transplant Games Federation and Chair of Transplant Sport, said: “We are so incredibly proud of each and every athlete that travelled to Perth to compete on behalf of their country.
“Many of these people have defied the odds, experienced near death situations, and battled long illnesses, to see them taking part in sport with transplant communities from across the world is a true inspiration.
“The World Transplant Games have got us really excited for our own summer of sport, it’s now less than 100 days to go until the British Transplant Games – we can’t wait to see all of our transplanted athletes from across the UK in Coventry in July.”
Recent Comments