Danny Crates' Paralympic dream

He believes that staging the games in London in four year’s time will have a lasting effect on the country’s disabled population.

He said: “It’s all about disabled awareness. It’s not just encouraging people to give it a go, but showing what high level sports these are.

“It also shows that traumatic things happen and you may think first of all that it’s all terrible, but you can still go on to achieve many great things.�

Crates was at the Thames Gateway Forum at Excel to promote the proposed Basildon Sporting Village, which will include Essex’s first Olympic-sized swimming pool.

The Essex athlete is an example of what can be achieved after becoming disabled. Crates is also a rugby player, a qualified diving instructor and a motivational speaker.

He won a gold medal in the amputee section of the 800 metres at the Athens 2004 Paralympics.

Although he was the flag-bearer for Britain in Beijing, he later went through the agony of missing out on defending his crown after picking up a leg injury.

He said: “As an athlete, the greatest honour is to lead your team out. I will cherish it for ever, but still had in my mind the worry that I might not make it. I had some injuries through the year, which is unlike me, but I kept believing I was going to get through.

“When I carried the flag, even that day I believed I was going to get on the start line. But then I injured my muscle.

“You could talk about what could have been for the next 20 years, but I’ve just got to get on. It was one of my toughest ever decisions to leave the Games in order to collect my thoughts.

“Also, many of my teammates were still in the competitive mode and it’s not good to have someone around who is not in that mode.�

Crates is now getting himself back in top condition and hoping to keep his fitness up ready for the London Games in 2012.

He has a more pressing issue to tackle before that, though, after losing his 800m world record to Poland’s Marcin Awizen in Beijing.

He said: “I want that world record back. As a true Brit I believe middle distance records belong in Britain not in Poland. I then will focus on the European Championships in Barcelona in 2010 and then on London 2012.

“It’s a long shot but I’m going to aim in that direction.�

Danny added that if he did make it to London at 2012, he expects a reduction in funding.

He said: “There will be cut-backs in Paralympics but cut backs are taking place in all walks of life.�

For more information on the Basildon Sporting Village click here.