Robyn Love

Robyn Love (born 28 August 1990) is a 3.5 point British wheelchair basketball player who represented Great Britain at the 2016 Paralympic Games.

Robyn Love
Robyn Love
Personal information
NationalityUnited Kingdom
Born (1990-08-28) 28 August 1990
Ayr, Scotland
Height164 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight60 kg (9 st 6 lb; 132 lb)
Sport
CountryGreat Britain
SportWheelchair basketball
Disability class3.5
Event(s)Women's team
ClubLothian Phoenix
Medal record
Wheelchair basketball
2015 Worcester, United KingdomWomen's wheelchair basketball
2017 Tenriffe, SpainWomen's wheelchair basketball
Women's World Championships
2018 Hamburg, GermanyWomen's wheelchair basketball

Biography

Robyn Love was born in Ayr, Scotland, on 28 August 1990.[1] She was born with arthrogryposis, a rare condition in which the muscles are shortened, due to the wrapping of the umbilical cord around her legs.[2] As a result, her right leg is shorter than her left, and she is missing muscles in both legs. At school she played football and tennis, but refused to participate in athletics because she knew her disability prevented her from running as fast as the other kids.[3] During her 2008 gap year before university, surgeons at Glasgow Royal Infirmary attempted to lengthen her leg by breaking it and using plaster and pins to keep it straight. The pins had to be tightened daily, which was excruciatingly painful. They also inserted a plate in her femur that helped her walk better, but her right leg remained 10 centimetres (3.9 in) shorter, and she still walked with a limp. In 2009, she entered Edinburgh Napier University, where she studied biomedical sciences. One of the first things she did was find sports organisations, and she started playing basketball.[2]

By embracing her disability, Love was set on the path to becoming an elite athlete. A friend suggested she try wheelchair basketball. Love attended a "come and try" day run by the Lothian Phoenix club in November 2013, and met Tina Gordon from Sportscotland,[2][3] who became her coach.[1] Love was classified a 3.5-point player, and Gordon trained her, and even bought her a £1,000 wheelchair basketball sports chair. Love played her first wheelchair basketball game in January 2014, shooting 16 points in a winning game.[2][3] She went on to win the Scottish Cup with Lothian Phoenix and the Scottish Universities Cup with Edinburgh Napier University.[4] In October 2014, she attended a national team training camp,[2] and in 2015 she relocated to the University of Worcester, where the national team is based. She made her international debut with the national team at the Osaka Cup in Japan in February 2015, winning silver.[5] This was followed by bronze at the European Championships in September 2015, securing a place for the British team at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.[5][6] In May 2016, she was selected as part of the side for Rio.[7] The British team produced its best ever performance at the Paralympics, making it all the way to the semi-finals, but lost to the semi-final to the United States, and then the bronze medal match to the Netherlands.[8]

Achievements

Personal life

She is engaged to fellow wheelchair basketball player Laurie Williams.[12]

References
  1. "Love, Robyn". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  2. "Wheelchair basketball's Robyn Love eyes Olympics". Edinburgh Evening News. 8 December 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  3. Hudson, Elizabeth (7 September 2016). "How Robyn Love found wheelchair basketball in time for Rio Paralympics". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  4. "Robyn Love – Rio 2016". ParalympicsGB. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  5. "Robyn Love". British Wheelchair Basketball. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  6. "Germany earn 10th women's European Wheelchair Basketball Championship title as hosts Britain win men's gold". Inside the Games. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  7. "British women's wheelchair basketball team named for Rio". International Paralympic Committee. 13 May 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  8. Berkeley, Geoff (17 September 2016). "University of Worcester-based GB women's wheelchair basketball team miss out on bronze medal to dominant Dutch in Rio Paralympics". Worcester News. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  9. "Summary - Wheelchair Basketball". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  10. "Robin Love". British Wheelchair Basketball. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  11. "NED v GBR". FIBA LiveStats. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  12. https://www.outsports.com/2020/2/23/21149647/wheelchair-basketball-paralympians-engaged-great-britain-uk-robyn-love-laurie-williams
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