MARK ETHERIDGE: Paralympic Kirsty Weir hopes her performance will inspire others

Actions speak louder than words goes the expression, but SA’s sole 2024 Paralympics triathlete Kirsty Weir is hoping her actions in Paris this week will translate into words that will inspire others to follow in her footsteps.

Weir made her Paralympic debut at the late age of 46 — but that hasn’t stopped her already marking down the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles in her “to-do” calendar.

On Monday she finished eighth in the PTS4 class of the triathlon in France — a 750m swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run.

Those were her first footsteps as a Paralympian but just getting to the start-line in one piece was in some ways already a win for Weir.

East London-born, she makes no bones about her long struggle with the debilitating condition of anorexia nervosa, something she struggled with for many a year.

“I never felt good enough and not worthy enough ... if I didn’t come first in a race I’d deprive myself and watch my teammates eat but not eat because I wasn’t good enough. At one stage I was down to 29kg and was going to die.”

But she said that something then clicked deep inside her brain and as she says: “I decided to fight for life.”

And she’s quick to point out that she did it on her own! “I had no help from a psychologist, psychiatrist or dietitian, I did it by myself and it was the hardest, darkest time of my life.”

Born with natural athletic talent, she then went on to win top-class events like the Two Oceans and Knysna half-marathons.

And then came the next curveball. After suddenly losing feeling in her left leg and countless visits to a range of physiotherapists, doctors, sports scientists, chiropractors (you name it), a neurologist did some tests.

“About a week later she told me she didn’t even know how I was managing to walk, let alone run. I had a lesion on my brain caused by an autoimmune condition known as neurological lupus.”

Long story short, she watched the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo and was then approached by Triathlon SA’s Beryl Campbell about trying the tri in Paris, and with not much more than a year of training and competition she was on the side of the Seine River, ready to take on her biggest challenge.

But before she took the plunge in Paris, she had her daily battle against anorexia. “I never stuck my finger down my throat or anything like that, it was just a deprivation ... I would have called it ‘starving for love’ ... it was my way of punishing myself.”

She says she never stopped eating completely but definitely deprived herself.

“It’s like a 365-days-a-year boxing match in my head... I want this/but I can’t have it, etc.

“It was a constant battle. I had a friend who always used to buy a chocolate and I’d ask her for just a fingernail of the shortbread inside. I once won a Tempo bar at a beach-run and it took me a week to eat it...”

Has she beaten anorexia for good? She certainly thinks so.

“I’ve beaten it and won’t go back there again. Look, I probably wouldn’t go out and have a huge hamburger and chips because I don’t think anorexia leaves you completely, but right now I think I’ve beaten it.

“And Cadbury’s [confectionery company] can sponsor me any day,” she laughs.

There’s no cure for the brain damage caused by the autoimmune condition of lupus “but para-triathlon is now my cure and my medication”.

This week she sat on a bench next to that Seine River which she’d conquered a day before, and reflected on her race in those same waters.

“I was so scared, the current was flowing so strongly and there was no familiarisation swim the previous day as conditions still weren’t right.

“But I had so many people behind me that I knew I had to do it ... when they called my name I had so much pride and joy ... and just thought that no matter what, I’m going to do it.”

Triathlon is not an easy sport, with so many of the skills learnt through sheer experience and actual racing, she’s never had formal swimming lessons and has only been doing this sport “properly” for a year.

“Swimming is hard, really hard. I got to the turn buoys and could feel the current pushing against me, these little arms were so tired.”

She got to the swim/bike transition zone to find there was what looked like the only bike left in the area, “but off I went and yet I ended up cycling three minutes faster than ever before over 20km. That was huge for me and it just shows what help one gets from having borrowed a smart trainer for a month to see what the watt output is, etc.”

Her coach, Rohan Kennedy, and the team doctor and psychologist as well as Team SA’s Campbell, were all there urging her onwards.

“I’d spoken to my mom earlier in the morning and she just encouraged me to ‘Eat them!’, an expression she’s always used to gobble up my opposition, and Rohan also shouted that.

“My legs were so tired, my ailing left side felt so heavy, but I ran with everything, and everyone, in my heart and moved up to eighth position.”

It was in the run where she came into her own, her 20min 37sec the fastest in the field, a full 40sec better than the next fastest and almost two minutes quicker than winner Megan Richter of Great Britain.

After her race, the emotion of her first Paralympic finish got to her as she chatted to her parents back in Gqeberha. “I just melted with joy.”

It’s only natural for her to wish she could replay and relive that day over and over again in her mind.

But the encouraging thing is that she’s looking forwards and with English rockband Oasis now looking to get back together after a 15-year hiatus, perhaps she’d do well to take encouragement from the title of one of their biggest hits Don’t Look Back in Anger.

“I’m holding this race inside me ... for now though, I want to get back home and get stronger and faster and then chase a medal in 2028.”

She won’t be alone. “I’ve had so much encouraging feedback which has filled my heart with love and joy.

“I’ve learnt so much now and if I apply it, with the correct backing, I know I can do it, with any help I can get from any source. I’m even going to try and do some para-athletics while training over the next four years.”

Something also very close to her heart is the fact that she wants to get into the motivational speaking side of things, sooner rather than later.

“I want to inspire other people, even if it’s just one single person, to never give up and chase that sense of belonging, even if it’s not in sport, it could be anything. Right now, in my mind, I’m the happiest and luckiest Paralympian in the world and I hope I did everyone proud.”

She may have been weak, and even waif-like in her darkest hours, but hopefully Weir has seen the light and is channelling her inner warrior to Los Angeles and beyond...