Paris 2024: Eden Rainbow-Cooper wants to smash ceilings

Going into her Paralympic Games debut, wheelchair athlete Eden Rainbow-Cooper is aiming to push down barriers, after growing up in a world in which she faced them every day. The 23-year-old knows all about limitations, but she stands as a prime example of how the Paralympic Movement can change everything. 

She made history by becoming the first British woman to win the Boston Marathon in April this year, as she prepares for her Paralympic bow in Paris. 

Proving people wrong 

But growing up, she felt frustrated. At a school careers day, when she said she wanted to be an athlete, she was told she didn’t look like one. 

What exactly does an athlete look like? 

“An athlete looks like someone who is an athlete,” she said. “It doesn't matter so much; if you're strong and you're fit, and in my case, if you're fast, those are the three most important things, regardless of anything else. 

"We're seeing the different body types and looks of athletes across all sports and seeing how much that differs for every single person, which has been super inspiring to lots of younger people. I realised I can do whatever I want, regardless of what I look like or how much muscle I have.” 

Not everybody felt that way, and such a closed-minded attitude made things difficult. 

"I think my disability was viewed by almost everyone as a negative. I was constantly taught that my life is going to be harder for me.  

“Other people were creating barriers based off what they thought I could do, rather than letting me go and find out for myself.” 

The seminal moment 

Rainbow-Cooper says the London 2012 Paralympic Games changed everything for her, and the way disability was viewed. It gave her the focus and inspiration to become a wheelchair racing force. 

"There weren't many role models for me. I think that was just due to a lack of Para sport on the TV and in the media, it wasn't something that I was aware of in the same way that football has been showcased on the TV for young boys and girls growing up wanting to become a footballer.  

“And when London 2012 happened, obviously there was this huge boom in investment of media into Para sport, and it was all over Channel 4, and it was all over the news, and it was the first time for me, and I know quite a lot of other young athletes were like, 'Oh, wow. I can do sport'. 

"I think Paris will hopefully bring that magic back as well and get people talking about it. Tokyo was a hard time because of Covid. So, it's going to be huge to have such big crowds watching everyone in the Paralympics do what they do best.” 

Rainbow-Cooper will compete in the women’s 1500m and 5000m T54, and the Marathon in Paris, but at such an early stage in her Paralympic career, she is avoiding putting pressure on herself. 

“The biggest aim is to have fun and get that experience of a Paralympic Games,” she said. | 

“Going into my first Paralympic Games as one of the slightly younger athletes, it's going to be a very different racing experience than what I'm used to. Racing in a stadium is something that we don't do very often.  

“So, on the day, it's going to be racing as good as I can, making sure that I'm happy with my own race, and whatever the position may be, it is what it is. Whoever's best on the day will win. "I don't want my sport to feel like a chore.” 

“It wasn't that long ago that I was 14, starting in the sport, and feeling like the world almost was this tiny little bubble of what I can and can't do. And I just really hope that the younger people are looking at Para sport and thinking I can be whoever I want to be.  

“And I don't want people to tell me what I can and can't do, because I truly think that that really can affect the rest of someone's life.”