Lothersdale archer Danielle Brown hoping for Paralympic gold (From Craven Herald)

Lothersdale archer Danielle Brown hoping for Paralympic gold

9:00am Friday 24th August 2012 in News

Lothersdale archer Danielle Brown will be hoping to add to her gold medal tally when she competes in the Paralympic Games which start on Wednesday.

Twenty-four-year-old Danielle is the reigning Olympic women's individual compound champion and will be defending her title.

She has already played an important role in the build-up to the Games - she shot an arrow at a spinning target at the official opening of the Olympic Stadium and stars in a series of 90-second TV adverts promoting the London Games.

“It is going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity,” she tells viewers.

After graduating from Leicester University with a first class law degree, Danielle has concentrated on preparing for the Games and has moved to the national training centre at Lilleshall, leaving behind friends and family.

“It has not been easy,” she said, “but you have got to give yourself the best possible chance.”

Danielle - the first-ever disabled athlete to win a gold medal for Team England at the Commonwealth Games in a non-disabled event - suffers from reflex sympathetic dystrophy in the feet, which means she is in constant pain and unable to stand for any length of time. She competes sitting down.

Meanwhile, eight-year-old Evan Whitton from Silsden will represent Yorkshire at a Paralympic Flame ceremony in Trafalgar Square tomorrow (Friday).

Evan, who was born with cerebral palsy and underwent life-changing surgery to enable him to walk, will be given a specially-adapted miner’s lantern, which he will then take to York, via East Coast Trains, where it will be split into five separate lanterns to be used at special events across Yorkshire.

"When I do this I’m going to feel like a Hollywood superstar,” he said.

“I can’t wait to be in London and am really looking forward to seeing the famous landmarks.”