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Vicky Tolfrey on parasport research and childhood dreams of the Olympics.
It’s summer – no really – and although the weather might have been mixed, the sporting line-up has been undeniably scorching – from the back-and-forth of Wimbledon, to the nail-biting Euros, to the current pageantry of the Summer Olympics.
Next month the 2024 Paralympic Games get underway in Paris, involving the world’s very best para athletes; and Professor Vicky Tolfrey is at the forefront of the science that makes their sporting dreams a reality.
Vicky is the Director of the Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport at Loughborough University, a hub for elite para-sport research. She’s worked with stars from the worlds of wheelchair athletics, basketball, rugby and tennis, amongst others – and in 2017, became the first European recipient of the International Paralympic Committee’s prestigious Scientific Award.
She tells Professor Jim Al-Khalili about her work with elite para athletes, her experiences at major international sporting events, and her childhood dreams of becoming an Olympian herself.