Yorkshire Evening Post - Tuesday 26th August 2008
After the Olympics comes the Paralympics and Leeds' David Stone has his eyes set very much on gold. Team GB are taking a team of 206 athletes to the Paralympics which start a month later than the Olympic Games in Beijing, getting underway on September 6. And Stone is one of Team GB's leading contenders, hoping to bring back not one gold but two in the time trial and road race events at Beijing.
Stone holds two world records (in time trials and road races) and approaches the Paralympics with faultless credentials having won two gold medals in the World Championships in 2007. He also won two gold medals at the World Championships in 2006 and two gold medals at the European Championships in 2005.
"I'm very excited about going to Beijing, I feel prepared, focused and able to produce my true potential," said Stone, who made his Paralympic debut in Sydney 2000.
"I have had my best year on the trike so far and think this form will continue into Beijing.
"I have just come back from the viking tour where I have developed my endurance base and now I am currently in Switzerland working on pure speed. I have two races which I am participating in to win.
"Locally I ride for Dave Mellor Cycles and compete on a weekly basis against able bodied cyclists."
Stone was born with cerebral palsy in Birmingham. The initial medical prognosis was poor as a consequence of a period during the birth process when he was not breathing. The significance of the cerebral palsy is that Stone's co-ordination is severely impaired impacting on both gross and fine motor control and speech. Medical opinion was that he would never develop sufficient co-ordination to ride a bike but sheer determination got him through.
Stone was also one of the first recipients of the 2012 Talented Athlete Scholarships.
Yorkshire also has strong representation in Paralympics basketball with Rotherham's Kevin Hayes, Dewsbury's Peter Finbow and Jon Hall, born in Doncaster, all part of the men's team. Sheffield duo Jill Fox and Joanne Harper form part of the women's team. There are also two Yorkshire athletes competing in table tennis, Sue Gilroy from Barnsley and Leeds born Cathy Mitton who now lives in York. Mitton won bronze in 2000 and 2004.
Sheffield's Alex Jewitt also competes in the tennis while competing in the swimming is Claire Cashmore, due to start a linguistics course later this year at the University of Leeds. Yorkshire also has representation in archery through Skipton's 20-year-old women's open compound world champion Danielle Brown while Grimsby born Hollie Arnold also competes in the javelin and is the youngest member of Team GB at an incredible 13-years-old.