John Harris, Stefanie Reid and “boosting” at the Paralympics

The London Paralympic Games are looking set to be the greatest in the history of the movement but it was a very different story at the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960, as Britain's first-ever gold medal winner Margaret Maughan told Peter White in "No Triumph, No Tragedy". In the pursuit of Paralympic gold, some athletes with spinal injuries have resorted to using an illegal technique called “boosting” during which they cause themselves pain, creating an adrenalin rush to enhance performance. BBC World Service looked at this secretive issue in "Inside the Paralympics". Sprinter and long jumper Stefanie Reid justifies switching her allegiance from Canada to Great Britain. Sainsbury Chief Executive Justin King explains why the Paralympics are big business for sponsors. Finally BBC Wales looks at the career of the legendary athlete John Harris who competed in five Paralympic Games and won a gold medal for discus in 1984.

You can listen to John Harris, Stefanie Reid and “boosting” at the Paralympics online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

John Harris, Stefanie Reid and “boosting” at the Paralympics is an episode from The Olympics by BBC.

This episode is 29:54 long.

This episode was published on Aug 28, 2012.

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