Anne Dickins (born 20 February 1967) is a British

paracanoe Paracanoe is canoeing for athletes with a range of physical disabilities. The Paralympic version of the sport is governed by the International Canoe Federation (ICF), and a va'a-specific variant is governed by the International Va'a Federation ( ...

ist who competes in the KL3 classification. She won gold in this event at the

2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, f ...

, and has also won two World Championship and three European Championship golds.

Background

Dickins was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland and lives in

Oxted Oxted is a town and civil parish in the Tandridge District, Tandridge district of Surrey, England. It is at the foot of the North Downs, south-east of Croydon, west of Sevenoaks, and north of East Grinstead. Oxted is a commuter town and Ox ...

, Surrey. She is a

physiotherapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...

by profession. She competed as an endurance mountain biker until she ruptured a disc in her back in 2011, which led to her developing ''cauda equina'' syndrome resulting in permanent

nerve damage Nerve injury is an injury to a nerve. There is no single classification system that can describe all the many variations of nerve injuries. In 1941, Herbert Seddon introduced a classification of nerve injuries based on three main types of nerve ...

in her right leg. Dickins was a volunteer Games Maker at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London, where she met Colin Radmore, a canoeing coach who invited her to try out for the Great Britain paracanoeing team. She had to overcome

seasickness Motion sickness occurs due to a difference between actual and expected motion. Symptoms commonly include nausea, vomiting, cold sweat, headache, dizziness, tiredness, loss of appetite, and increased salivation. Complications may rarely include d ...

when she took up the sport, and underwent a desensitisation programme similar to those used by

fighter pilot A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a Military aviation, military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, Air-to-ground weaponry, air-to-ground combat and sometimes Electronic-warfare aircraft, electronic warfare while in the cockpit of ...

Career

In her first year of competition, Dickins won gold at the 2013 European Championships and silver at the World Championships in the K-1 200m LTA class. In 2014 she successfully defended her European Championship title and won her first World Championship gold. In 2015 she won a third successive European Championship title and won the silver medal in the World Championships, competing in the K-1 200m KL3 class. At the 2016 World Championships she won gold in the K-1 200m KL3 class. Dickins won gold in the KL3 class at the

in Rio de Janeiro, the first Paralympics to feature canoeing events, beating

Amanda Reynolds Amanda Jane "AJ" Jennings (formerly Reynolds, born 7 October 1971) is an Australian paracanoeist and para archer. She won two gold medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships and a silver medal in the Women's 200m KL3 at the 2016 Rio Par ...

by a margin of 0.03 seconds. Dickins was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to canoeing.

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dickins, Anne 1967 births Living people Paralympic canoeists for Great Britain Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic medalists in paracanoe Canoeists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships medalists in paracanoe Members of the Order of the British Empire British physiotherapists Sportspeople from Glasgow People from Oxted