PARALYMPICS 2024: 'Paris is about embracing the Paralympic spirit of participation' - para-equestrian Johnson-Dwyer

JOHANNESBURG – Phillipa Johnson-Dwyer is riding into her sixth Paralympic Games.

She was born into a show-jumping family and started riding horses when she was four years old.

The Belgium-based athlete competes in dressage and para-equestrian dressage and before her accident in 1998, competed in able-bodied dressage competitions at a national level.

"So horses have always been a part of my life. I started riding when I was four years old, and then the competition was just the next step.

"Then I had my car accident in 1998 and I think the one thing that really kind of pulled me through the tragedy of a car accident was my animals, especially my horses, and the motivation to actually start riding again," said Johnson-Dwyer.

The accident caused Johnson-Dwyer to lose all her strength in her right arm and 60% of the strength in her right leg so she had to relearn horse riding from the beginning.

"At that stage in South Africa, there was no competitive riding for disabled people. Riding was only used as therapy. I was very lucky that about seven months after my accident, I got to go to London and meet a girl who had a biking accident but had landed up with the same disability as myself, and she had been competing in both the Para equestrian and able-bodied competitions."

Johnson-Dwyer told Eyewitness News that after the meeting, she came home and asked the South African Equestrian Federation whether she could participate and the rest is history.

"My greatest achievement is winning the first ever Olympic/Paralympic medals in Equestrian sport in South Africa. I won 2 silver medals in the 2004 Athens Paralympics and then 2 gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics."

The 46-year-old is among South Africa’s most successful equestrian athletes, having represented South Africa at the 2004 Athens Games, 2008 Beijing Games, 2012 London Games, 2016 Rio Games, 2020 Tokyo Games and now she's at the Paris Games.

"Things are going well at the moment, but I think Paris, for me, is really about embracing the Paralympic spirit of participation. You know, obviously, as an athlete, you always want to say, 'yes, we're going for a medal' but I must admit, I would love to, first of all, just get there - healthy horse, healthy rider - come down the scent line in that beautiful arena."