Commonwealth Games 2022: Ellie Simmonds tips Para-sport to shine in Birmingham

This summer's Commonwealth Games are a huge opportunity for Para-sport to make a significant impact, former swimmer Ellie Simmonds has told BBC Sport.

The five-time Paralympic gold medallist retired from the pool last year but has been part of the organising committee for the Games.

Birmingham 2022 has the Commonwealth Games' biggest Para-sports programme, with 42 events across eight sports.

"More events show how powerful the Para-sport movement is," she said.

"It's so good for Para-sport, and for the events to be on a level playing field here shows it is as important as able-bodied sport.

"There will be some amazing Para-athletes competing and they deserve as much recognition as the non-disabled athletes.

"We have seen a massive momentum. Para-athletes are now seen as professional athletes and are inspiring the next generation."

After no spectators were able to attend last year's Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, the athletes in Birmingham will have plenty of support. Simmonds, who grew up in Aldridge, near Walsall, and will be part of the BBC team for the Games, knows how important that will be.

"It is so exciting for me to have a big sporting event in what is really my home city," she said.

"You can feel the buzz of the Games and we need a big sporting event like this in Britain after the couple of years we have had.

"For the athletes, it will be special to compete in front of a home crowd again. It's like an adrenaline rush."

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Ellie Simmonds was part of the Commonwealth Games baton relay

Para-sport's road to Birmingham

Events for athletes with a disability were first included on the programme for the 1994 Games in Victoria, where exhibition events in athletics and lawn bowls were held.

But the 2002 Games in Manchester marked a huge step forward, with Para-athletes fully integrated into their national teams, making them the first fully inclusive international multi-sport Games.

A total of 20 countries sent both male and female elite Para-athletes to complete in 10 events in five different sports - athletics, lawn bowls, swimming, table tennis and weightlifting - and medals counted as part of the overall team total, a move that has continued.

Just over a year after having her leg amputated following a scooter crash, the star of the show was South African Natalie du Toit.

The then 18-year-old won both the multi-disability 50m and 100m freestyle and made history by qualifying for the non-disabled 800m freestyle final.

Since then, the programme has grown at each Games and after 38 events on the Gold Coast four years ago, Birmingham has seen further growth, with wheelchair basketball 3x3 joining athletics, cycling, powerlifting, swimming, table tennis, triathlon and lawn bowls on the programme.

Du Toit won two golds at the 2002 Games in Manchester

What are the sports and events to watch?

Wheelchair basketball is set to be one of the most exciting events, with the fast-paced matches played on the former site of the city's wholesale markets in Smithfield from 29 July to 2 August.

Six teams will compete in each event. England, South Africa, Australia and Canada have both men's and women's teams while Northern Ireland and Malaysia men and Scotland and Kenya women complete the line-up.

England will be among the favourites for both golds, with the women's team featuring world silver medallists Amy Conroy, Charlotte Moore and Joy Haizelden, along with Jade Atkin.

Manning will be hoping to create Games history in Birmingham

Two-time Paralympic bronze medallist Lee Manning brings experience to the men's team alongside youngsters Tyler Baines, Charlie McIntyre and Abderrahim Taghrest.

As the only sport that is not part of the Paralympic Games programme, lawn bowls has a special place at the Commonwealths.

Australia won two gold medals on home soil last time. This time, three golds are up for grabs in the men's pairs and women's pairs for athletes with physical impairments and an event for visually impaired athletes.

Visually impaired athletes will be making their Games debut in the triathlon programme after the sport first appeared in Australia four years ago.

Who are the athletes to watch?

There are plenty of world-class competitors bidding to add Commonwealth gold to their Paralympic medal haul.

Seven-time Paralympic champion Hannah Cockroft will be making her Commonwealth debut in the T33/34 100m, where she goes up against England team-mate Kare Adenegan.

Cockroft won 100m and 800m golds in front of no spectators in Tokyo last summer. She will relish home support in the Alexander Stadium when she goes for gold on 2 August, three days after her 30th birthday.

On the same day, double Paralympic gold medallist Sophie Hahn will be bidding to retain her title in the T37/38 100m. Unbeaten over the distance in major championship finals since 2014, the 25-year-old was victorious on the Gold Coast four years ago.

And the men's F42-44/F61-64 discus on 3 August could see a showdown between GB team-mates Dan Greaves and Aled Sion Davies.

England's Greaves is a discus specialist and won his sixth Paralympic medal from six Games in Tokyo, as well as Commonwealth gold in Glasgow in 2014.

His Welsh rival has been concentrating on the shot, as discus is not a Paralympic event in his category, but after switching focus this year for the Commonwealths has made huge strides and the pair have both thrown 56m bests this season.

Cockroft, Firth and Fachie were among ParalympicsGB's gold medallists in Tokyo

In the velodrome, Scotland's Neil Fachie will be looking to win double gold for the third straight Commonwealth Games after success in Glasgow in 2014 and Australia four years ago.

Fachie and pilot Lewis Stewart go in the kilo and sprint races at the Lee Valley VeloPark on 29 and 31 July and two more golds could see him become the most successful Scottish athlete at the Games.

There will also be a chance for sprinter Libby Clegg to show what she can do on a bike after switching sports post-Tokyo.

At the Sandwell Aquatics Centre, six-time Paralympic champion swimmer Bethany Firth will go for Northern Ireland in the only major event she has not won gold in, fresh from winning five golds at the recent World Championships in Madeira.

England's Maisie Summers-Newton will be favourite in the SB6 100m breaststroke on 1 August - an event where she is Paralympic and world champion. Her team-mate Alice Tai, the winner of two golds four years ago, will be in action in two events just months after having her right leg amputated below the knee.

Tai, who competes in the S8 category, will compete against less-impaired athletes in the S9 100m freestyle on 29 July but her stronger event will be the S8 100m backstroke two days later.

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