Gemma Louise Prescott (born 25 September 1983 in

Truro Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...

) is a British

Paralympian The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete competing in F32 throwing events. Prescott represented England in the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...

, taking the bronze medal in the SP

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

. She has represented the Great Britain team twice in the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China, from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

in Beijing and the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Sum ...

in London.

Career history

Prescott was born in

in 1983. Prescott, who has

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...

, attended

Great Sankey High School Great Sankey High School (GSHS) is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Warrington, Cheshire, England. It is a member of the Omega Multi-Academy Trust (OMAT). The school was first built in the 1970s ...

. She was introduced to athletics after being invited to a 'have a go' day at the age of 15. Prescott explored wheelchair racing and swimming before settling on the throwing events and was invited to compete at the DSE National Junior Championships in Blackpool in 1998. After leaving school, Presott matriculated to the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

, where she graduated with a master's degree in mathematics. In 2005 Prescott entered the Paralympic World Cup taking gold in the F32 discus and silver in the F32 shot. In 2008 qualified for Great Britain team at the Beijing Paralympics. She entered into the discus and shot put finishing 7th and 8th respectively. In 2010, she was selected for the England team for the

in Delhi. She entered in the shot put, the only women's throwing event for athletes with a disability at the tournament. Prescott threw 5.54m which was good enough to take the bronze medal. 2010 also saw her take gold at the German National Disability Championships. Prescott also made the decision in 2010 to begin the switch from discus to the

club throw The club throw is an Track and field athletics, athletic throwing event where the objective is to throw a wooden club. The event is one of the four throwing events, along with discus, javelin and shot put of the Summer Paralympics. It is the Paraly ...

, as the F32 discus had been dropped from the

' programme. Her personal best at the club throw at the end of the season was a distance of 14.52m achieved in Stoke at a BWAA International. The next year she was selected to represent Great Britain at the

2011 IPC Athletics World Championships The 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships was held in Christchurch, New Zealand from January 21 to 30, 2011. Athletes with disabilities competed, and the Championships were a qualifying event for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Over 1,000 ath ...

in Christchurch, New Zealand. She entered both the shot put and club throw, finishing 7th in the shot, but took the bronze medal in the club throw with a new personal best of 16.40m. Prescott improved her club further five months later, throwing 17.18 at the BWAA Grand Prix in Stoke. In 2012, she was selected for the Great Britain team at the Summer Paralympics, entering the club throw and F32 shot put. She had improved on her personal best in the club going into the Games, with a 19.62m throw at Chelmsford in May. In the Paralympic club throw finals she threw 20.50m for 1015 points, a British and European record, taking the bronze medal. She finished in 7th place in the women's club throw F32 event at the 2020 Summer Paralympics held in Tokyo, Japan.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prescott, Gemma 1983 births Living people English female shot putters British female shot putters British female club throwers Track and field athletes with cerebral palsy Sportspeople from Truro Paralympic athletes for Great Britain Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games World record holders in para-athletics Alumni of the University of St Andrews People educated at Great Sankey High School Sportspeople from Cheshire Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games 21st-century English sportswomen Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in athletics