Tokyo 2020: Sydney Rowing Club’s Ben Gibson after Paralympic spot
Back in 2016 Ben Gibson’s sporting goal was to play Shute Shield club rugby. In 2020 it is to be competing alongside some of the best athletes in the world in Tokyo.
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Four years ago former rugby player Ben Gibson was recovering from surgery and watching the Rio Olympic Games on TV.
Now he could be heading to Tokyo 2020 in a different sport.
Gibson, from the Sydney Rowers Club at Abbotsford, is chasing a spot on the rowing team to compete at the Paralympics in Tokyo from August 25 - four years after watching the Games on TV and being inspired to take up his new sport.
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In 2016 Gibson was playing fourth grade for the West Harbour Pirates at Concorde Oval when he was tackled in the opening two minutes of the second game of the season.
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“I picked the ball up off a lineout, someone tackled me, I pivoted and got tackled round the knee and my knee was at a right angle.
“I dislocated my knee and then tore the peroneal nerve which left me with foot drop in my right foot.’’
Gibson, who initially underwent extensive rehabilitation and surgeries and was recovering from one while the Rio Olympics and Paralympics were on.
When you go through quite a traumatic experience and the going gets tough, you can draw on past experiences
“I was watching and it triggered me to wonder if I could do something new,’’ said the account manager at Xero who wears a carbon fibre orthotic which helps lift his foot.
“I applied to the Paralympic Federation, got a list of contacts back and picked rowing because I lived round the corner from the a rowing club.
“I wanted a sport where I could use my body, did it for a week, got set up at Sydney Rowers and competed at the Australian Rowing championships after three weeks of rowing.
“It was just a sport I took to. But I didn’t know what I was getting into in terms of time required and intensity.
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Now juggling training with work, Drummoyne’s Gibson rows or is in a gym session before and after work most days and working to qualify himself a seat in the mixed coxed four in Tokyo.
“Rowing has been part of my rehabilitation process, channelling my focus into something different,’’ he said.
“I have drawn on strength from the accident.
“It’s a mindset thing. When you go through quite a traumatic experience and the going gets tough, you can draw on past experiences.’’
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