Karen only took up cycling after Beijing, inspired by the ParalympicsGB team there, yet was still able to make the podium in London due to her inherent ability and incredible dedication within the GB Para-Cycling world class programme.

As we turn our attention to Rio 2016 and seek to maximise GB medal potential there - against increasing competition from across the globe- the quote also clearly demonstrates how important London now is in defining our ambition and what we can achieve. Because it was London and the outstanding performances of our athletes there, more than any Games before, which showed the world what is possible.


The recruitment programme - called "Paralympic Potential: Bring on Brazil" - is notable also for the way that the main organisations in the UK are working better together since London.

It is a formal three-way partnership between the British Paralympic Association (BPA), UK Sport and the English Institute of Sport (EIS) which will play to each body's strengths and responsibilities. In turn it will ensure that the ultimate beneficiaries of any Talent ID programme, the National Governing Bodies, are well provided with candidate athletes for their world class programmes for Rio (and beyond) in a way that can only complement and enhance their existing activity.

A clear example of where this is happening better than before is with the brand itself. After London, there is far greater excitement in, knowledge of and desire for disability sport - and much of that is captured in a public sense in the single word "Paralympic". It is the word that drives a memory of London and a special time for the British nation. It also now can be the "stardust" that can be sprinkled on activity and events to engender much higher engagement levels.

So the BPA was keen to be involved and be "permissive" with the brand in this way with the UK Sport and EIS, because it is not only the end product of athletes for Rio that is vitally important but the initial inspiration.

This permissiveness was also at the heart of our second ParalympicsGB Sports Fest in Sheffield at the end of April. With every sport and many of our community sport partners present, we opened to the door to well over 700 people in the two days and all the NGBs there again said that not only had they allowed many disabled people to try a sport for the first time, they also unearthed some potential gems to polish for the future.


What both Sports Fest and the Paralympic Potential programme have in common is that the brand is used in a 'multi-sport' context, one that is based on using its power and inspiration to drive opportunity across the movement as a whole.

This is very much part of the BPA "Maximising Momentum" Strategic Plan for the Rio Cycle - where one of our priorities states our desire "To Support the Development of Disability Sport Opportunities Across the UK". We do not deliver athlete development programmes, that is not our role. But we can help drive the actions of others, and especially the sports, by putting the inspirational impact of the Paralympics, which is our gift to give, at the heart of the process.

That is why, on the other side of the coin, it equally needs to be protected. The danger that we face is that, for perhaps understandable reasons, the word 'Paralympic' becomes a generic, catch-all term for all disability sport activity at any level: the "Hoover" or "Xerox" equivalent. It isn't and mustn't be.

Not only do our athletes care deeply that the right to be called a "Paralympian" must be earned (I remember vividly last year the now double gold superstar Hannah Cockcroft saying she was not a Paralympian until she had pulled on the vest and competed for her country), it also does a disservice to the Games themselves. You never hear non-disabled single sport competitions, from weekend club matches to World Championships, being described as "Olympic". The same must apply in the world of disabled sport.


It is a multi-sport context where it works, where the captured excitement of London can drive more people to try sport, and now also hopefully shoot for the same kind of dream that Karen Darke, and indeed Hannah Cockcroft and Jonnie Peacock among others, had after Beijing.

Our "Paralympic Potential" partnership is a great way to show momentum, for the sports and the movement, but most of all for the athletes themselves.