Our Paralympic champion is still going for gold

While the Olympic flame burns in Paris for the duration of the Paralympic Games, the competitive spirit of those who take part never really goes out.

Our colleague, Fife-born former sprinter Caroline Baird, may no longer be competing but when the Games are on, she will still be keeping a close eye on the times of the runners.

“I just want to see if I could still make a final,” she says, with a grin.

She’s laughing but it’s really no joke for an athlete who dominated the track in her prime, winning four gold medals and a silver over three Paralympic Games.

Caroline, who works at Enterprise House in Dundee, won her first gold in the 100 metres at the Barcelona Games in 1992 and she repeated the feat at Atlanta in 1996. At Sydney in 2000, she won gold in both the 200 metres and 400 metres, as well as a silver in the 100 metres.

She also won bronze at the World Championships in Berlin in 1994, gold at Birmingham in 1998 and was recognised as the world’s leading sprinter in the T36 Class, setting a new level for what was possible for an athlete with cerebral palsy.

The mum of two still remembers the contrast of training twice a day by herself on a freezing track in Scotland to stepping out in front of thousands of people in the heat of the Games.

She says: “Before the race it is all about focusing on you as a runner and how you are going to run the race and then you walk out onto the track and you see all these people. It takes your breath away. There were 80,000 people at Sydney. In Barcelona, 50 or 60,000. From practicing on a cold windy track… it’s just mad. The noise is deafening but you’ve just got to try and focus. Getting to the starting line you are just trying not to shake but once the gun goes off you just have to remember the training and all the work you have put in and run your race.”

For over a decade, Caroline was the lead sprinter in her class. She was also awarded an MBE in the 2000/2001 New Year’s Honours List. Her painting hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London. She’s even a past Chieftain of Cupar Highland Games and has a room named after her at our head office, Agnes Husband House.

As she has moved on from competitive sport and become a mum she has seen a shift in attitudes towards disability.

She says: “Disability is still a huge stigma. I mean, people don’t really expect disabled people to have kids. When my daughters were young especially, I could see people looking and I don’t know if that was shock or pity. I think the way I talk, some people think I’m stupid. Attitudes are definitely getting better but there is still some way to go.”

Caroline now brings her experience to work and has found our approach to social security and disability, treating people with dignity, fairness and respect, positive.

She says: “We are helping to change attitudes. It’s great working here. People are friendly, I can take breaks when I need to, I don’t feel stressed and I definitely feel valued as a colleague.”

She has faced ongoing challenges, including missing out on a return to Barcelona earlier this year when she had to undergo surgery. But ever the athlete, she has picked herself up and is ready to go again.

She says: “We’re returning in September to get some sun. Barcelona was my first time being at the Games. I just remember thinking ‘oh my God, what the hell is this?’ It was so good. I can’t wait to go back.”

In the meantime, there’s the TV and the Paralympics and some very fast times to keep a close eye on.