Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games: Who is Yorkshire’s paralympic star Jamie Stead? How did he soar to the Paralympics?

The 27-year-old para-athlete, from Normanton, West Yorkshire, will be competing in the mixed tournament at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games on August 26 at 12pm (UK time).

However, this isn’t his first time he will be competing in the Paralympics.

Childhood

Jamie was born with cerebral palsy, a group of long-term conditions that affect movement and co-ordination.

He had dreamt of becoming a professional athlete since he was very young. He had tried various other sports before settling on rugby and made his international debut at the Canada Cup in 2014 and has continued to represent GB at the European and World tournaments ever since.

Rising the ranks

He was part of the team that came fourth in the World Championships in Denmark in 2014 and came in first place in the European Championships in Finland in 2015.

His career took off when he was selected for the Rio Paralympic Test Event, where his team won and went on to compete in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, where his team came in fifth place.

Between the years 2017 and 2018, Jamie competed in the European Championships and World Championships, with his team coming first and fourth place respectively.

In 2019 he was part of the team that won the European Championships and came in fourth place in the World Wheelchair Rugby Challenge in Tokyo.

He won the King Power Quad Nations Wheelchair Rugby Tournament in 2021. He was awarded MVP and best 2.5 player at the King Power Quad Nations.

How to watch Jamie Stead compete?

You can watch Jamie compete in the Paralympic Games either on Channel 4, More 4 or All 4 at 12pm (UK time) today (August 26).

The channels will be showing all of the sports during the event: wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, track cycling, goalball, wheelchair tennis, sitting volleyball, boccia, paralympic powerlifting, para-athletics, paralympic swimming, para taekwondo, para-badminton, paratriathlon, para-cycling, para table tennis, powerlifting, paralympic shooting and paralympic judo.