Lora Fachie: Paralympic delay puts family plans on hold
- Published
Fachie and husband Neil decided to put off starting a family to compete at the delayed Tokyo Paralympics
Paralympic cycling champion Lora Fachie says she has put plans to have a child on hold in order to compete at the delayed Tokyo Games next year.
The Paralympics are now scheduled for next summer having been postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Fachie, who is visually impaired, wants to defend her individual pursuit B title but a delay made her reconsider.
"For me, initially I wasn't sure whether I could commit to another year," she said.
"I did really have to question it, because I'm aware I'm not getting any younger unfortunately and I do have other hopes for my life - to start a family."
"When you work in four-year cycles you make plans, and then goalposts move and it was suddenly, 'can I postpone that for another year?'"
Fachie's partner Neil is also a Paralympic medallist with ambitions to win gold in Tokyo, having claimed the world title in his event - the 1km time trial - in February.
At 36, the Scot says the postponement of the Games was a "disaster" for him, but added it allowed him to reflect on life away from sport.
"It was really interesting at the start to have those discussions with Lora," he said.
"I had my own thoughts with the Games being postponed. For me personally, it was a disaster really, because Lora isn't getting any younger and I'm a good bit older than Lora, so where does that leave me?
"So things could change and I might not be the favourite any more. So I was pretty disappointed and I knew Lora was going through these decisions as well - which obviously I was part of - but it was her decision ultimately."