David Smith

Started: He first picked up some basic boccia skills at age six during a physical education class at Cedar School in Southampton, England. He began getting regular training and coaching at age 11 when he moved to Treloar School in Alton, England. (Athlete, 27 Aug 2024; disabilityhorizons.com, 17 Dec 2012; telegraph.co.uk, 30 Jul 2012) Reason: He was encouraged to take up the sport seriously at high school. "I started playing at primary school. I went to a specialist school for people with an impairment and at that time they were pretty hot regarding anything sporty. It was a good place to be and boccia was one of the sports that we played. It took me a while to fall in love with it as initially I was rubbish. I didn't win an end for almost five years. To be honest, representing Great Britain wasn't in my psyche. My high school took Para sport seriously and I was given countless opportunities to achieve. Eventually, I had my first taste of success in boccia and I started enjoying it." (paralympic.org, 02 Apr 2016; ablemagazine.co.uk, 01 Jan 2015) Ambition: To win a team medal at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (insidethegames.biz, 24 Apr 2022) Milestones: He became the first boccia player representing Great Britain to secure three Paralympic gold medals when he won the open BC1 individual event at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. The medal also made him the first British boccia player to have won five Paralympic medals of any colour. (SportsDeskOnline, 30 Jan 2024) He became the first British boccia player to win gold at the world championships by claiming victory in the individual BC1 mixed event at the 2014 edition of the tournament in Beijing, People's Republic of China. (SportsDeskOnline, 31 Mar 2020; boccia.uk.com, 02 Aug 2021) Awards: He was appointed Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire [OBE] in the 2022 New Year Honours list. He had been named Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire [MBE] in the 2017 New Year Honours list. (bbc.co.uk, 31 Dec 2021; southwales-eveningpost.co.uk, 05 Jan 2017) He was flag bearer for Great Britain at the closing ceremony of the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. (paralympics.org.uk, 05 Sep 2021) In 2013 he received the Freedom of the Borough of Eastleigh in England. (eastleigh.gov.uk, 10 Jun 2015) He was named Sportsperson with an Impairment of the Year at the 2007 BBC South Sports Awards. (bbc.co.uk, 04 Dec 2007) Additional Info: TOKYO REFRESH In 2024 he said the postponement of the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo was beneficial for him. "I was feeling fed up with boccia. The lack of recognition, winning everything and not having much to show for it, and I was going through a divorce. Tokyo 2020 was around the corner, and I wasn't really looking forward to it." After the Games were postponed, he used the time to develop a new approach to looking after his body. "When I wasn't in competition I probably wasn't looking after myself because I was so busy, head down. I would skip breakfast, have a cheese toastie or something convenient for lunch, which wasn't the best, and I wouldn't drink enough. I was getting into bad habits then expecting the body to function while training hard. But a couple of weeks into having a balanced breakfast, balanced lunch, hydrating properly, working out at the right time, I was sleeping better, my gut health improved, my toileting habits improved by 30 per cent, my energy levels were better. When I eventually came back to boccia, it felt ridiculously easy, like I hadn't been away. My physical health was better, my mental health was better, and the balls were behaving themselves. The nutrition work made me a better athlete but also gave me an escape from the relentless nature of sport and winning." (paralympic.org, 20 Mar 2024) MENTAL APPROACH In addition to changing his diet and training habits during the COVID-19 lockdown, he also re-evaluated his mental approach to the sport. "Due to the way boccia is funded, my income was based purely on results and I'd never been results driven. It was becoming more like a job and less like a game - and that was restricting my ability to play well. I want to play well, show off, make the crowd excited and rip up the rule book a little bit. The fun had gone out of it. There's no point worrying about winning and losing, I treat them both the same. You learn more from your defeats, no question. I can't win every game, I'm human, and boccia is the most competitive Paralympic sport, so the fact that I've been so dominant for so long just shows how good I am rather than anything else. Even I'm surprised by how long I've been able to dominate for. I don't quite understand it, but I'll take it." (paralympic.org, 20 Mar 2024) LONGEVITY While he says he has not decided on how long he will continue to play for, he does have the 2032 Paralympic Games in the back of his mind. "Lots of my training is around body preparation, maintaining strength and flexibility in key areas to enable my body to do what it needs to do when I'm on court. Much like other athletes at the latter stages of their career, I don't need to put in the hours that I did when I was in my 20s as I've got muscle memory. It's more about maintaining energy levels then building on key areas [of my game]; quality over quantity. I've got [the] 2032 [Paralympics] in my head because it's in Brisbane and I've never been to Australia and that would be cool. But apart from that I've not really put a date on it - I don't see the point while I'm at the top." (paralympic.org, 20 Mar 2024) OTHER ACTIVITIES He has served as chairperson of Swansea Boccia Club in Wales. (LinkedIn profile, 16 Jan 2024)