Sally sets hersights on Rio

The Ballykelly athlete achieved fantastic success at the Paralympics at just 17 years old, qualifying for the 100m final alongside a Cuban rival who set the world record.

She told the Sentinel how the support from people in Ballykelly, Limavady and indeed the entire United Kingdom has been “fantastic”, and that “basically the same number of people have been interested in the Paralympics as the Olympics – and that’s great in itself.”

Despite this, she faced criticism from a prominent figure in local athletics, Malcom McCausland, who said she had not progressed from where she was a few years ago. Mr McCausland also criticised Sally’s coaching team, saying she should adopt a more “professional approach”.

Sally Brown responded to this criticism to say that while she was disappointed with her own performance, it was not Mr McCausland’s place to say what she should be doing with her own coaching team.

Her father Richard Brown, who also acts as her spokesperson, hit out at Mr McCausland, referring to the well-known coach as a “controversial character”. Mr Brown added that Malcom McCausland “hadn’t done his homework” because Sally had been coming back from a lengthy spell out of action due to injury and had been forced to re-assess her goals for the Paralympics.

Sally finished sixth overall in the T46 100m, and says she now has her sights firmly set on the world championships next year and in the longer-term, on the Paralympic Games in Brazil for 2016.

She missed out, however, on the 200m final, an event she told the Sentinel she was “disappointed” not to do better in because it was her strongest distance.

She told the Sentinel: “The experience was amazing. I enjoyed every minute of it but I didn’t do as well as I had hoped. I think if I had had a bit of a run up to it without getting injured I would like to think I would have got a medal.

“It’s been amazing. It’s been basically the same number of people have been interested in the Paralympics as the Olympics. So many people across the UK have been supportive of all the athletes. Everybody has been absolutely amazing and I didn’t think there would have been so much interest and so much support. My Dad sent me over pictures of some of the banners up in Ballykelly supporting me. It’s just been amazing.”

Responding to the criticism from Mr McCausland, she said: “The only reason I didn’t do as well as I would have liked is because of injury. Getting here was such an amazing achievement in itself and I don’t really think it’s his place to say that. It wasn’t because I hadn’t trained hard for it.”

Her father, Richard, also responded to Mr McCausland’s remarks: “He is a controversial character to say the least. He hasn’t done his homework because he should have been well aware of the injury she was just coming back from at the end of May.

“Sally had two goals after coming back from injury. One was to achieve selection for the team and another was to get into two finals. She achieved selection for the team and she managed to get into one of the two finals, so you can’t be disappointed with that.

“At the end of the day, Sally is the one out there on the track. We couldn’t be happier with the team. We have Paula Dunn – she works for UKA and is the head sprint coach for Great Britain. We have Phillip Tweedie from Springwell, he’s Sally’s main coach and the people from Team GB are very happy with him. He’s brought Sally along really well since the injury. We’re more than happy with the team around Sally.

“Malcom McCausland, being an athlete himself should know that you have to work your way back. We have had to re-assess the goals coming into the Paralympics and he should have been aware of that.”

He added: “Brazil in 2016 is going to be Sally’s time.”

Defending his remarks, Malcom McCausland said: “I stand by what I said. I prefaced those comments by saying that I had no problem with Sally. When she was 15 she was third in the world. Maybe she needs to adopt a more professional approach like Jason Smyth does with the coaches. You judge a pudding by results. If the Browns are happy with the team, that is nothing to do with me, I was merely giving my opinion from an objective point of view.”