With 89 caps, Kylie Grimes has decided she will take a break from international wheelchair rugby as she looks to spend some time focussing on her public speaking career and other personal interests.
Kylie reflects:
“I love everything about the sport, the team, and competing. I’ve had the best few years and winning the gold at Tokyo was the pinnacle of my career. I now know it’s my time to have a break from playing at the top level and for now prioritise some other things I want to do. I will continue playing with my club and will always be involved. Who knows on the future but for now I want to explore new challenges.”
Kylie first made her international debut back at the 2011 European Wheelchair Rugby Championship and the following year her Paralympic debut as part of the GB wheelchair rugby team at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. In 2014, Kylie transferred to para-athletics, changing her focus from a team sport to individual disciplines. She represented GB in para-athletics at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games in the F51 club throwing, finishing fourth.
Her passion for team sport returned and in 2018 Kylie’s focus was back to wheelchair rugby and was successfully selected back onto the GB team in 2019. Kylie was part of the team who won the nation’s first Paralympic medal in wheelchair rugby at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games, this also made her the first female in the history of the sport to win gold.
Kylie was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for services to wheelchair rugby in the New Year Honours List 2022, following the team’s gold medal success at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Kylie will continue playing domestically with London Wheelchair Rugby Club and remains passionate about the sport at all levels. All of us at GBWR are behind Kylie and wish her all the best for future success. We want to thank Kylie for all she does for the sport and GBWR, and know that she will continue to be a huge role model.
