Latest news with #ArchieAtkinson
BBC News
7 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Paralympian Archie Atkinson ignored teacher to chase cycling dream
As a teenager, Archie Atkinson could not believe it when one of his teachers told him to quit cycling because it would apparently never amount to with the backing of his parents, the 16-year-old instead decided to leave college and pursue his dreams in the sport he now 20-year-old Paralympian, from Heaton Moor in Stockport, Greater Manchester, said to hear that as a 16-year-old was "pretty hard"."To be told your dreams mean nothing, and what you wanted since you were a little kid was worthless... so I left college the next day," Atkinson said. That single-minded determination, not to mention a desire to prove a point, has certainly paid off."Less than a year later I won my first world championships," said Atkinson."So I sent her a nice email... but I'm sill waiting on a response."Atkinson has shared his story as part of BBC North West Tonight's six-part series about living with invisible disabilities and 20-year-old, who has cerebral palsy, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism, grew up around cycling and enjoyed many family bike rides as a child. His first experience of riding on a track came when he was 10 years old, under the tutelage of Olympic champion Sir Chris it was not until a chance encounter with double Paralympic gold medallist Ben Watson while on a ride with his father in 2021 that he truly decided to pursue his cycling dreams. Atkinson discovered he was eligible for para-cycling and was accepted on to the British Cycling Foundation a year, he was promoted to its world-class performance programme. "The Paralympics is a whole manner of disabilities," said Atkinson. "It's pretty cool."He thinks there is considerable ignorance though."I was recently at an event in America and you tell them 'I'm a Paralympian' and the first thing they do is look you up and down and try to find your disability."I can understand it. I don't look disabled from the outside, but it's quite hurtful because you're questioning 'is that person disabled'?"Atkinson said he really struggled at school and was "bullied pretty much for four years during high school".He said: "I used to do para football for quite a while and they found out where I trained. "They would film it, post it on social media, use sort of disabled slurs under some stuff."Atkinson said those tough experiences had made him the person he is today."It's built a character that helps in elite sport, as I'm a bit more tough."He said his conditions "don't change who I am. It's a written thing on a piece of paper from a doctor but to have it – I'm proud of it."I wouldn't be me without it so there's no reason to hide it." Atkinson's experiences are echoed by fellow cyclist Kiera 27-year-old, from Bolton, said she only felt safe from the bullies at school when she was hiding in a toilet cubicle. A decade on, she has five world championships to her name. "Sport has been a lifeline that has helped me to be able to accept who I am and make me happy of who I am," said said cycling had also helped her to connect with people."I have grown as a person, picking up lifelong skills," she said. Sport has opened so many doors for winning six Special Olympics gold medals, she serves on both the competition's International and Great Britain Board of Directors. The Special Olympics, in which people with intellectual disabilities from around the world compete, were founded in has autism, a learning disability and Rubinstein Taybi Syndrome - a condition which affects people in different ways and to varying degrees, according to the RTS Support Group."Just having a diagnosis and labels sometimes is difficult because people only see the labels on the paper, they don't see you as a person," she said. Byland is determined to help others who are also living with disabilities and conditions which are not immediately obvious. "I always say, I like to be the person that I wish I had when I was younger."If you're in a dark place right now, in school, and you're struggling with academics, there is a different way."Life doesn't have to be in one direction. "You can make your own path and thrive and survive in many ways."Archie Atkinson and Kiera Byland feature in a special six-part BBC North West Tonight series about invisible disabilities and conditions. You can watch it on BBC One in the Northwest of England and the Isle of Man from 18:30 BST on Monday 7 July. It will also be available on the BBC iPlayer. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
I hid my silver medal, I was ashamed of it
Archie Atkinson was on the verge of becoming Paralympic champion, leading the C4 4,000m individual pursuit by five seconds in Paris last summer with one lap remaining. But the Para-cyclist had given his all and was visibly tiring as he crashed to the floor in the velodrome with 250m to go to hand an unlikely gold medal to Slovak Jozef Methelka. The 20-year-old Briton still finds it difficult to look at his Paralympic silver medal and admitted it lives under his bed. "The weeks after were pretty rough. I kept dreaming about it," Atkinson told BBC Sport. "With neurodiversity, you become obsessed with it, so my obsession was my crash in Paris, which isn't very nice. You keep dwelling on it. "I hid my medal away, I was ashamed of it, which is quite upsetting." Atkinson was identified as autistic and with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) aged 10, and six years later it was confirmed he had cerebral palsy. "I'm more than just a label," he insisted. "I am my own person and even with them you can achieve anything you want." He describes his experience of being neurodivergent as both a blessing and a curse. "It's a blessing because you can get super focus and special interests, so one special interest for a few months could be aerodynamics or numbers or sprinting," Atkinson explained. "You obsessively focus on that specific thing until you have perfected it." Atkinson found school challenging and said he was bullied for playing Para-football, clips of which surfaced on social media at the time. "You do get those certain few who take it to the extreme," he said. "They will have something against you completely because you're autistic or different and, for whatever reason, they don't like that." PE lessons were also particularly problematic. He was not picked for teams initially because it was perceived that his autism would stop him from being any good. Atkinson said: "After a few years they worked out 'oh, he has some talent' so then they would pick you on their team. It's not very nice." Despite the difficulties, Atkinson stuck to his love of sport, eventually finding Para-cycling. "I think a lot of neurodiverse kids struggle with sports," he said. "I think if schools were to focus on supporting those kids with additional needs to help them do sport, it would massively improve them." Atkinson is clear that being neurodivergent can help in making it to elite sport, specifying a "special ability to super focus or hyper fixate". And it was also physical activity that taught him how to manage difficult times. "Sport was there as my sort of freedom, my outlet," he said. "If I had a bad day at school, I'd go play football or run around in the garden or ride my bike and that made me happy and feel free." Atkinson's first taste of a velodrome came when he was just 10, under the guidance of Sir Chris Hoy. It arose when the six-time Olympic champion launched children's bikes in partnership with a retailer where Atkinson's father worked. "It was quite daunting, [being] very small, and you see the massive banking [in the velodrome]. It was quite scary," he admitted. "And then getting told by him, 'oh there's no brakes!', you're terrified of going over the handlebars." After getting over the initial fear he felt, "this is quite good, it's quite fun' and then your world opens up". Atkinson continued to cycle for pleasure but a chance encounter with double Paralympic gold medallist Ben Watson while out on a ride with his father in 2021 changed the course of his life. He realised he could be eligible for Para-cycling, and after undergoing power tests was accepted onto the British Cycling Foundation Pathway. A year later and he was promoted to the world class performance programme. Within a short space of time Atkinson has won a Paralympic silver as well as world champion medals on the track and road and he is eyeing more. This summer's Para-cycling Road World Championship will be in Belgium and he is targeting the time trials. And he added "every title in the track events" would give him the confidence to "smash it" at the Los Angeles Paralympics in 2028. "Heartbreak in Paris to success in LA. I think it'll make a nice story," he added.
BBC News
21-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
I hid my silver medal, I was ashamed of it
Archie Atkinson was on the verge of becoming Paralympic champion, leading the C4 4,000m individual pursuit by five seconds in Paris last summer with one lap the Para-cyclist had given his all and was visibly tiring as he crashed to the floor in the velodrome with 250m to go to hand an unlikely gold medal to Slovak Jozef 20-year-old Briton still finds it difficult to look at his Paralympic silver medal and admitted it lives under his bed."The weeks after were pretty rough. I kept dreaming about it," Atkinson told BBC Sport."With neurodiversity, you become obsessed with it, so my obsession was my crash in Paris, which isn't very nice. You keep dwelling on it."I hid my medal away, I was ashamed of it, which is quite upsetting." 'Sport gave me freedom' Atkinson was identified as autistic and with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) aged 10, and six years later it was confirmed he had cerebral palsy."I'm more than just a label," he insisted. "I am my own person and even with them you can achieve anything you want." He describes his experience of being neurodivergent as both a blessing and a curse."It's a blessing because you can get super focus and special interests, so one special interest for a few months could be aerodynamics or numbers or sprinting," Atkinson explained."You obsessively focus on that specific thing until you have perfected it."Atkinson found school challenging and said he was bullied for playing Para-football, clips of which surfaced on social media at the time."You do get those certain few who take it to the extreme," he said."They will have something against you completely because you're autistic or different and, for whatever reason, they don't like that."PE lessons were also particularly was not picked for teams initially because it was perceived that his autism would stop him from being any said: "After a few years they worked out 'oh, he has some talent' so then they would pick you on their team. It's not very nice."Despite the difficulties, Atkinson stuck to his love of sport, eventually finding Para-cycling."I think a lot of neurodiverse kids struggle with sports," he said."I think if schools were to focus on supporting those kids with additional needs to help them do sport, it would massively improve them."Atkinson is clear that being neurodivergent can help in making it to elite sport, specifying a "special ability to super focus or hyper fixate".And it was also physical activity that taught him how to manage difficult times."Sport was there as my sort of freedom, my outlet," he said. "If I had a bad day at school, I'd go play football or run around in the garden or ride my bike and that made me happy and feel free." Atkinson's first taste of a velodrome came when he was just 10, under the guidance of Sir Chris arose when the six-time Olympic champion launched children's bikes in partnership with a retailer where Atkinson's father worked."It was quite daunting, [being] very small, and you see the massive banking [in the velodrome]. It was quite scary," he admitted."And then getting told by him, 'oh there's no brakes!', you're terrified of going over the handlebars."After getting over the initial fear he felt, "this is quite good, it's quite fun' and then your world opens up".Atkinson continued to cycle for pleasure but a chance encounter with double Paralympic gold medallist Ben Watson while out on a ride with his father in 2021 changed the course of his realised he could be eligible for Para-cycling, and after undergoing power tests was accepted onto the British Cycling Foundation Pathway.A year later and he was promoted to the world class performance a short space of time Atkinson has won a Paralympic silver as well as world champion medals on the track and road and he is eyeing summer's Para-cycling Road World Championship will be in Belgium and he is targeting the time he added "every title in the track events" would give him the confidence to "smash it" at the Los Angeles Paralympics in 2028."Heartbreak in Paris to success in LA. I think it'll make a nice story," he added.
