By Jacqueline Grima
Manchester Metropolitan University Sport Scholar Kadeena Cox will be heading to Rio this summer after being selected for the Paralympic GB cycling team. Her selection comes only one week after she was also chosen for the Paralympic track and field team, meaning Kadeena could enter the history books as the first British athlete since 1988 to win medals in two different Olympic sports.
25-year-old Kadeena, who is studying for a BSc in Physiotherapy at Manchester Met, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis after a stroke in 2014. She is very much looking forward to the challenge of participating in both sports at Olympic level. She said, “I don’t think it’ll sink in until I get to Rio because I’ve still got so much work to do before I’ve even get to the Games so I’m just trying to focus on the next couple of weeks and training hard.”
She added, “I’m a very determined and competitive person and I just wanted to get to the Games to be there contending for those medals.”
MMU Sport Performance Sport Officer Callum Jones talked about how proud the team are of Kadeena: “We are so happy that Kadeena’s hard work and determination has paid off. She has shown amazing focus balancing the demands of both sports while putting herself at the forefront of the global stage for each.
“Everyone at MMU Sport wishes her the best of luck in Rio and we’ll all be cheering her on.”
Kadeena will be heading to Rio with fellow MMU Sport Scholar and Olympic medallist Helen Scott. She said, “Helen and Sophie Thornhill are my best friends on the team, we bounce off each other and having them there is awesome. I don’t think I’d be able to do a lot of what I do without them. We’re Team MMU!”
To find out more about more about Kadeena’s Olympic experience and other MMU Olympic hopefuls, see the MMU Sport website or tweet using the hashtags #MMUatRio and #MoreThanMedals.
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