Oliver Lam Watson

Reason: He says he wanted to prove doctors wrong after being told he could never become an athlete. "[The doctor] said, 'Look, you could amputate it or you can live with it. You'll never walk normally, you'll never run, you'll never be an athlete'. I went down the route of not amputating due to the risk. In my head I went through the idea of, 'What can I do?' I was determined to prove these doctors, and everyone who told me what I couldn't do, wrong and show them that I could be an athlete. I found wheelchair fencing and thought, 'Wow, that looks cool!' So I called up every single fencing club in London. I heard back from one of them and trained the whole summer." (thelivelife.co.uk, 13 Apr 2021) Ambition: To win medals in the individual epee and individual foil events in the A category at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (teambath.com, 03 Jul 2024) Additional Info: SHOE DESIGNER In 2020 he was one of 20 people from London chosen by sportswear brand Nike to co-create a new trainer. He chose to base his design around his experiences growing up as a person with an impairment. "I gave my shoe the name 'At Odds' because it's about being at odds with society's stereotypes of the disabled while celebrating the fact that different is not less. They're white to signify society's unconscious and unfair bias towards the perfect and pristine. I also used fencing white which is something I am passionate about. The Nike swoosh is in blue to represent the disability blue badge, and I wanted it to stand out against the white, like disability standing out in contrast to society's perception. There's also the colour of orange on it, which is called 'rust', [which] is seen as imperfection and undesirable, and so I liked the idea of showing the imperfection and being proud of it. There's also an athletic gum sole, so the bottom has the traditional gum sole, so when you move, you see it. That's the idea of being seen through movement, creating change through sport." (thelivelife.co.uk, 13 Apr 2021; scope.org.uk, 11 Aug 2020)