A rider who was partially paralysed after a fall as a teenager and has taken an Olympic rowing gold medal in Paris has declared: “Never give up”.
Georgie Brayshaw, who was in a coma for nine days after her horse fell when she was 15, was part of the women’s quadruple sculls crew that topped the podium today (31 July), with Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott and Lola Anderson.
Georgie said she started riding aged seven, “became obsessed”, and eventually got her own horse.
“The last thing I remember from the day of the accident was about half an hour before when I was setting off with friends, galloping through a field, and then I don’t remember anything from there until a week after I woke up,” she said.
“There was a road in the field and my horse wasn’t slowing down, he slid over on the road and I slid off.”
Georgie was picked up by the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and spent nine days in a coma. When she came round, her left side was paralysed for about a year, and her parents were told she might not walk again.
“I had to retrain myself to use the left side of my body but even when I started rowing at 22, coaches noticed that there were so many instances where my left side just did not connect in the gym so I had to do loads of extra work,” she said.
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Georgie said the rowing club she joined during her second year at the University of Nottingham was still new; she would row once a week and “it wasn’t serious at all”. Family issues led her to give up a year later, but she started again after university.
“My message used to be that no matter who you are, or how old you are, you can do anything,” she said. “I think that I’m proof of that. Doctors told me I would be in a wheelchair when I had my accident and they told my parents I might not even be able to feed myself properly but here I am now.
“I want kids to know that they actually can do anything and when I go to schools, it’s not about rowing, it’s about anything you’re passionate about as long as you believe in yourself.”
After the race today, Georgie told the Nick Westby of the Yorkshire Post that it felt “amazing”.
“Never give up, from 15 when I had the accident to now, there have been so many things that haven’t gone right, trials that haven’t gone right, training sessions that haven’t gone well and I have just kept going and going and going,” she said.
“I never took no for an answer and I will never take no for an answer, I’ll always prove people wrong and that’s what I’ll do. Anyone that’s ever doubted me, this is what I’ve done, and anyone that has ever been doubted, this is what you can do too.
“You can get to the top as well, you’ve just got to believe in yourself.”
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
