October 20, 2020

Double Paralympic champion Libby Clegg talks to Annie and Louise about her time on Dancing on Ice, life as a mum and her Paralympic career.

58 minutes

In this 30th episode of the season of the Her Spirit podcast BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin and BBC Triathlon presenter Annie Emmerson talk to double Paralympic champion Libby Clegg MBE.

Libby took up athletics aged 9, joining Macclesfield Harriers AC. She originally tried middle distance running and cross country before starting sprinting.

Libby is a Scottish Paralympic sprinter who has represented both Scotland and Great Britain at international events. She represented Great Britain in the T12 100m and 200m at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, winning a silver medal in the T12 100m race. She won Gold in Rio at the 2016 Paralympic Games in 100m T11 where she broke the world record and T11 200m, beating the previous Paralympic record in the process, thus making her a double Paralympic champion.

She has a deteriorating eye condition known as Stargardt's Macular Dystrophy disease giving her only slight peripheral vision in her left eye and is registered blind. Libby runs with the aid of guide runner Chris Clarke.

In October 2018, Clegg announced she was expecting her first child with fiancé Dan Powell in March 2019. In April 2019 Clegg gave birth to a son, Edward, via emergency C-Section.

She has had physical injuries and has been affected by mental health issues. Her guide dog, a black retriever/Labrador cross, is named Hatti.

In 2020 Libby took part in Dancing on Ice "It's been a learning process". On the track I run with a guide runner and we're attached all the time. It's like learning a different vocabulary to communicate. Myself and my [ice skating] partner Mark Hanretty use touch and verbal communication.

I'm not as bad as I thought I was going to be, but it's not as easy as it looks. It's very technical. Libby finished third on Dancing on Ice, which is a phenomenal result.

Libby talks openly about the loss of her eye sight, life as a mum and many new obstacles in 2020 that very few women have had to overcome.

These podcasts have been made possible through the support of Medichecks www.medichecks.com and Sport England www.sportengland.org.

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