Olympic medallist hopes to leave sporting legacy for kids

By Edmund Brack

Double Tokyo 2020 Paralympic medallist Oliver Lam-Watson wants to leave a legacy that lasts long after his sporting career has finished by offering children with disabilities the opportunity he never had.

Although Oliver’s journey to winning silver in the men’s team foil and bronze in the men’s team épée wasn’t naturally straightforward, being a sportsman comes very much joint-first in his life, alongside the foundations he wants to build for the next generation of Paralympians.

The 28-year-old, who went to school in Dulwich and was raised in Putney, wants to inspire the next generation of wheelchair fencers by giving them the head start he never received as a youngster.

Speaking following a morning session of teaching kids wheelchair fencing with foam swords at Highshore School in Farmers Road, Camberwell, Oliver said: “It’s so cool for me to be here. This is as important for me as the paralympics, world cups and competing; this is why I do it.

“I am not a sportsman because I want to be the world number one, I do this because I want to show people what is possible with a disability and give back to the younger version of myself that was never offered the opportunity.”

Despite only finding sport when he was 23, Oliver’s short journey from abandoning his degree in architecture to winning two medals at this summer’s Paralympics is quite remarkable.

“It was amazing. I didn’t even think I would qualify,” he said.

“I remember when I first started wheelchair fencing, I told everyone that I was going to qualify, to which everyone told me: ‘It’s three years away. You don’t just qualify for a paralympics.’

“I realised that after a year, and I then went quite hush, hush about it because I felt like a bit of an idiot.

“Then, three-and-a-half years down the line, I qualified, went to Tokyo and took two medals. It really is a testament to not feeling ashamed of dreaming big, so big that it scares you and scares everyone else.

“I want to dream so big that people tell me that I am an idiot, so big that I feel stupid saying it out loud.

“It was a really awesome lesson for me that if I push really hard, and while it’s not always guaranteed that hard work pays off, it can pay off, and when it does, it’s really amazing.”

Oliver was born with Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome, a condition that prevents him from weight-bearing or straightening his left leg, and felt that participating in sport as a youngster highlighted his difference.

“Sport is a really crazy one. It’s something I grew up really hating as a kid,” he said.

“It’s something that really highlighted my difference and made me feel as though I was a lot less than the others. But in recent times, it’s really become a way of me taking control back over my body and redefining what’s possible when living with a disability.

The ParalympicsGB wheelchair fencer, who was visiting Highshore School along with London Sport as a part of Active London’s largest annual conference, added: “Speaking from my own experience, for young disabled people who don’t feel as though they can do sport, and society has often told them what they couldn’t do, I think it’s so important to get that funding.

“One of my friends, who was on my team and is current world number one, was actually offered wheelchair fencing at school, and it often makes me think: ‘How many world champions could we have if we started offering para-sport at schools from a young age?’

“We have got a couple of foam swords here today, which cost only a couple of pounds, and these guys are having an absolute whale of a time, and I am having a great time. It’s making their morning. They’re active, stimulated and thinking. That’s what school is about.”

Pictured top: Oliver Lam-Watson with children at Highshore School in Camberwell