By Bethany Lee
Hope Gordon had an incredible 2024 Paralympics in Paris, leaving with a shiny silver medal in the women’s VL3 200m final alongside her ParalympicsGB teammate Charlotte Henshaw who took the gold.
Hope is now a three-time world silver medalist in Para canoe, storming through the world rankings.
Post-Paris, she hopped on a zoom with Scottish Disability Sport to tell us all about her Paralympics journey, how it feels to represent Scotland and what sport means to her.
So, have you recovered from the excitement and exhaustion yet of the Paralympics?
I’ve not really had time to sit by myself and think about it all since I got back. I’ve definitely tried to catch up on some sleep, especially after the homecoming in Birmingham, I had two days just to chill and I think I slept for 23 hours.
That must’ve been very needed. Take me back to that moment when you realised you had just won a Paralympic silver medal.
Well, we’ve kind of had the top two spots for the past few years, me and Char. Obviously we both want to win, but I was happy that she got it, and it was just really cool to get those top spots for ParalympicsGB. This is my first Paralympic medal so that was really special.
I also think to have so many family and friends in the stands, and knowing there’s a lot more watching back home, was really cool. It almost means more to me seeing how much it means to other people.
You were the only Scottish para canoer in the ParalympicsGB team – how does it feel to be able to represent Scotland?
I’m always so proud to fly the flag for Scotland within our team. Hopefully we will get more Scottish athletes within the system, I know there’s a couple that have just started out in a boat now, so hopefully over the next few years we see more racing. Maybe I’m the first, but I definitely don’t think I’ll be the last, so that’s the important thing.
It’s special to be the only one, and my family always makes sure there’s some Saltires in the crowd so that makes it easy for me to spot them!
And obviously you’re a brilliant para Nordic skier as well, did you feel different going into Paris after competing in the 2022 Winter Paralmypics?
It was a bit daunting going to the Winter Paralympics being so new to the sport and racing against massively established athletes. I was definitely a wee fish in a big pond, and it was quite significantly out of my comfort zone; but equally I actually think that benefited me going into Paris this year.
Even though it was a much bigger event, all I need to do is just paddle in a straight line as fast as I can and there wasn’t anybody on the start list in Paris that I hadn’t raced before so I kind of knew what I was doing, which wasn’t the case in Beijing.
You were the first female para-Nordic skier on the ParalympicsGB team. Do you think things have changed for female athletes?
I think with Paris this year what was really good was that we had the same events. In Tokyo within paracanoing, the guys had an extra event than the girls which obviously wasn’t great, especially since it was the event that I probably would have done. So, it’s a big step forward even from Tokyo to Paris and within our sport to have the same amount of events.
Within our team, the girls are super strong and it’s really cool to be a part of that. We got 8 medals, and the girls got 6 of those so it’s a strong team, especially on the female side.
On the Nordic side, it was a bit different being the only one. It’s just about taking opportunities and trying tings and just because you haven’t seen a female that looks like you doing the same sport, it doesn’t mean it’s not possible.
Fitting with that idea, it is Scottish Women and Girls in Sport Week, and the theme is leadership. Are there any female coaches or influences in your life that have helped pushed you to where you are today?
I’ve had a few female coaches over my time. For swimming, when I was in Sterling, I had a female coach, Kerry, who got me through some quite tough times in and out of hospital.
I also think that such a big part of performance sport that people forget about is the volunteers, especially in rural areas. We would be absolutely lost without volunteers, and a huge portion of those, in my experience, have been female. My mum is actually one of those volunteers, it’s been a long time since I’ve been swimming at the clubs at home, but she’s still a volunteer coach.
When I joined the GB team, it was heavily male dominant from a staffing perspective, whereas now one of the main coaches is female, and the physio is female and she’s the best sports phsycio I’ve ever had, we would be broken without her.
Quite literally I can imagine! Do you think your younger self would believe where you are today and what you’ve achieved in sport?
I first watched the Paralympics in 2008 when I was in Yorkhill Children’s Hospital in Glasgow. I’d just had a procedure that hadn’t gone to plan, and it left me quite ill, I had to lay completely flat on my back for a long time and I was put into a little side room and there was this tiny TV in the corner, and I watched the Beijing Summer Paralympics. If you’d asked that 13-year-old lying in a hospital bed if I’d go and compete in a summer and winter Paralympics in the space of two years and come away with a meal, there’s no way I would have thought I could do one of those things, nevermind all three of them.
Sport has been massively important, doctors told me that if I wasn’t so active my condition would have spread or gotten significantly worse. There’s also the psychological side of it, it gives you structure in your day, it gives you a reason to get out of bed. I think for me when I was going through quite a tough time, it felt like I could leave my wheelchair at the side of the pool and forget about it for two hours.
I genuinely don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t have sport as a bit of an outlet to help me cope with things.
Finally, looking ahead, what is next for you?
I don’t know, is the honest answer, but I definitely hope I’ll be on the team in LA in a boat!