Contents

• Life as a Paralympic athlete
• Recollections

Dorothy competed in the shot put, discus and javelin at the Stoke Mandeville 1984 and Seoul 1988 Games winning gold medals in the shot put.

Dorothy competing at the Stoke Mandeville 1984 Paralympic Games. ©WheelPower

Life as a Paralympic athlete 

At Dorothy's first Paralympics, the Stoke Mandeville 1984 Games, she participated in the Shot Put 3 category, winning gold; this was also the first gold medal won for Team GB at the Games. She also participated in Discus Throw 3 and Javelin 3, winning silver in both. At the Seoul 1988 Games, she again won gold in Shot Put 5, as well as making it to the final round in Discus Throw 5 and Javelin 5. At the Barcelona 1992 Games, she chose to participate in the Mixed Air Rifle, as well as Mixed Olympic Match, but did not progress past the preliminary rounds. 

Recollections

In 1992 Paul Pantzer visited Stoke Mandeville to join the Disabled archers group whilst he was there Dorothy took him to see the shooting range and that is when he got hooked on shooting. 

Dorothy with the GB shooting team at the 1994 World Championships in Linz, Austria. (Front row, second from the left)

References

• https://www.paralympic.org/dorothy-ripley “Dorothy Ripley” (Paralympic.org)
• http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/calendar-special-wheelchair-olympians “Calander Special: The Wheelchair Olympians” 
  “Dorothy Ripley, the British record holder for shot put and javelin, is interviewed.  She is asked about what motivates her, answering that she enjoys it.  She has just made a world record throw, but she says that she is aiming for a Class 4 distance as she may be reclassified”
• https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-the-wheelchair-olympians-1983-online
  Dorothy Ripley is interviewed in this video (Same video as above)
• https://twitter.com/bfi/status/773552059975098368?lang=en “Shot putter Dorothy Ripley of Castleford, training for the 1984 Paralympics” (BFI)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVJ4YbUYDHg&feature=emb_title  “Stoke Mandeville Paralympic Games 1984” (Mandeville Legacy)