Friday, February 27, 2009

Long-time British Paralympian announces his retirement

From ESPN Star. It's nice to see some general coverage of Paralympians.

Welsh Paralympic star Neil Robinson has announced his retirement from following a career spanning 25 years.

The 50-year-old Robinson made his Paralympic debut at the Stoke Mandeville 1984 Paralympics and has competed at every Games since with his last appearance at the Beijing Games in 2008.

In Seoul in 1988, Robinson won his first Paralympic medal, team bronze, and then won team gold - with James Rawson - and individual silver.

He went on to become European singles champion in 1995 and again took individual silver at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games before also becoming world number one in his classification.

Robinson said: "To play my last event in Beijing, the 'home' of table tennis was a nice way to finish. I just missed out on a medal there despite playing well but it was a great event to be involved in.

"The atmosphere in the arena was amazing - a very loud but informed crowd, it was real theatre.''

Robinson, from Bridgend, South Wales, added: "Table tennis is a very strong and competitive sport so I can look back on a very successful career and my two individual Paralympic silvers I won in this sport now seem like gold.''