… not just any medal. When I wrote of our loss to the USA yesterday I referenced the baseball aphorism ‘’the game isn’t over until the final out” – today the team gave weight to that with a comprehensive win over the reigning world wheelchair rugby champions Japan and in so doing earn their place in tomorrow’s final where we will play the USA for a second bite of the cherry. When today’s final whistle was sounded emotions ran high – not just amongst this closely bonded team and coaching staff but in the wider community who have supported GB through the ups and downs over many years. To be honest its only now that I am together enough to write this. I cannot begin to express how pleased I am for the athletes, the staff, and coaches who have given their very beings to getting to this place. I am not going to talk about the performance here as there will be plenty writing about it, other than to say the difference was we believed, we played our game not anyone else’s, and we executed the game plan. Lots will be spoken about Aaron and Stuart and Jim, all of whom were outstanding, but Jonny and Ryan excelled and demonstrated beyond everything that the role for the low pointer remains as strong and as important as it ever was. Let the flyers fly but today again showed that they can only be effective if the steady, intelligent, and thoughtful low pointers do their job and are in the right place at the right time. We are not finished yet. We came to win gold, not just win a medal, and we have had our practice game against the USA so now let’s go!
David Pond
