David Weir feels like a new man with more Paralympic glory in his sights

The 42-year-old is one of Britain’s great Paralympians after collecting 10 medals, including six golds, in five previous visits to the Games.

David Weir has his sights on more medals at the Paralympics in Tokyo (John Sibley/PA) (PA Archive)

David Weir is feeling like a new man as he heads to Tokyo with more Paralympic glory in his sights.

The 42-year-old is one of Britain’s great Paralympians after collecting 10 medals, including six golds, in five previous visits to the Games.

His most memorable successes came at London 2012 when he finished a gruelling schedule of seven races in 10 days with golds in the T54 800 metres, 1,500m, 5,000m and marathon.

Yet things turned sour in Rio five years ago. He failed to make the podium in any of his events and became embroiled in a bitter dispute with a coach, in which Weir claimed he was accused of deliberately sabotaging Britain’s chances in a relay race.

He said he would never race for Great Britain again and later struggled with additional personal problems and depression.

As time has passed, however, Weir has turned his life around and rediscovered his enthusiasm.

“I have filtered in and out in a four-year cycle anyway, for as long as I can remember, but not as bad as after Rio,” Weir told the PA news agency.

“That was probably the toughest time I have experienced. When you get accused of throwing a race, when you are actually trying to help the team, and I’m going for a medal as well, it was quite heartbreaking for me.

“For me it was, ‘Is that what everyone thinks of me? Do they think I’m doing that?’. Every time I went out I just felt people were talking about me. I know they weren’t but in my mind they were.

“It just spiralled out of control. I couldn’t cope with it. It has been a long process trying to get back to where I feel happiest.

“I met my partner two years ago and I moved down to the south coast with her. It was a new start and I feel like a new person now.”

Weir’s training for Tokyo, in which he will compete in the 1,500m, 5,000m and marathon, has included participation in the Papa John’s Weirwolf Challenge. In this virtual event, participants take part in a collective effort to see how many times they can travel from London to the Japanese capital and back, along with Weir, while raising money for ParalympicsGB.

Weir will head to Tokyo for his sixth Paralympic Games

Training throughout last year’s lockdown also led to an unexpected widening of focus. Having retired from the track after Rio, Weir had been focusing on his main passion of marathon racing but a lack of competitive opportunities saw him return to the shorter distances.

“I needed to go and race at a high level and there weren’t any marathons for me to do around the world,” said the eight-time London Marathon winner. “My best option was to go and race on the track.

“I think that did me good. I ‘PB’d’ in two events, which I’d not done on the track for 11 years, so it shows you I’m still pretty quick.

“I enjoyed it and I hadn’t enjoyed racing on the track for a number of years. It was a nice feeling.”

The coronavirus pandemic inevitably brought other challenges, with training camps planned for sunnier climes swapped for runs in the cold and wet of a British winter and gym work done in the garage. On top of that, with uncertainty over the Games themselves after the delay of a year, was the worry it could all be for nothing.

Weir will race on both the track and in the marathon in Tokyo (John Giles/PA) (PA Archive)

Weir said: “It was like, ‘What am I doing this for? Am I actually going to get to go to the Paralympics?’. That was probably the toughest time I have ever experienced in training, just not knowing what to do.

“It’s been tough but I’m nearly there now. I want to go there to compete at the highest level and win a medal.”

Amid the challenge, Papa John’s have also launched the ‘WeirWolf’ pizza, created by the man himself.

“It’s basically just vegetables with an added bit of pepperoni to make it spicy,” said Weir of his choice of toppings, which include onions, peppers and mushrooms.

:: To sign up for the Weirwolf Challenge visit: www.theweirwolf.jmvirtualraces.com. For more details and to donate visit: www.papajohns.co.uk/paralympicsgb.