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Oliver Lam-Watson In the summer of 2021 Oliver Lam-Watson was part of the three man team that won Silver and Bronze medals at the Tokyo Paralympics in wheelchair fencing. It was an extraordinary achievement coming only five years after taking up the sport. Oliver was born in 1992 with Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome, a vascular disorder affecting his left leg, which worsened around the age of nine forcing him onto crutches. The condition means that Oliver cannot straighten his leg nor bear any weight on it without causing significant discomfort. Arriving at Dulwich in 2006, Oliver largely kept a low profile and today recognises that he often ‘denied my disability’ . He acknowledges that the College offered a great deal of support, although with the onset of puberty, it was often a confusing time. ‘For many in my year group there was a real sense that while we were entering a time of change and moving forward, we were also leaving something behind. My condition was not something I really talked about, nor did I encourage others to discuss it with me. My reaction was to shy away from the use of the word disability, even to the extent of suggesting that it was temporary and that soon I would be walking normally again. From an early age sport was never something I enjoyed and at the College I would always choose the gym option whenever possible; it allowed me to be self contained and focus on my own improvement.’ In 2011 Oliver left Dulwich and threw himself into his architecture degree. The course was to occupy the next six years of his life and became he says ‘an opportunity to re-invent myself. I was done with being the disabled kid, the kid on crutches’ It was a time when he chose to publicly acknowledge his disability; although by attributing his use of crutches to a skiing accident he was not yet ready to fully explain its origins. He hoped too that it was an opportunity to leave the worst experiences of his condition behind him, the countless doctor’s visits, the operations, the painful physio appointments. However, a routine visit to his doctor forced him to consider his life choices. ‘I was told that my condition had worsened and that now was the time to decide if I wanted to have my leg amputated.’ It was, Oliver admits, a wake up call. ‘This was a huge decision for me and although the risks involved meant that I did not, in the end, have the amputation, it did force me to revaluate what my disability really meant to me. I had just reached my twentieth birthday yet had only just fully come to terms with the fact that I was looking at a future as a disabled person. I started to go to the gym and train with a real purpose. Before long I had signed up for a 5K cross country ‘Spartan’ obstacle race which not only was a significant challenge in its own right but also gave me a benchmark against which to judge just how fit I was. I loved the buzz that finishing the
course gave me and having already decided not to continue with architecture I gave myself a year to see how far I could push myself. Soon 5K races became 10K, then 15K. At the same time I began to develop my media posts by focusing on disability and physical fitness. Social media became the vehicle that I hoped would allow me to show young people with disabilities what was possible if they put their mind to it.’ A follow up appointment brought yet another change of direction and Oliver was made to face up to the realisation that however hard, however challenging the obstacle races were, they were not, in the words of his doctor, ‘a real sport’. It was a comment that struck a nerve and resulted in him researching the Paralympics. ‘There was no doubting that these were real sports; the Olympics are at the pinnacle of any athlete’s ambitions. Wheelchair fencing stood out as being something I could relate to, felt I had an aptitude for and was accessible for someone with my level of disability.’ From that moment Oliver dedicated himself to his new sport. ‘This was the summer of 2017 and I guess I became a little bit obsessed with doing something that people had told me that I couldn’t do. I did everything to make this new dream a reality. I rang round every fencing club in London looking for help and for a coach that I could work with. I threw myself into getting fit and spent hours mastering the new techniques I would need to succeed. I was literally living wheelchair fencing 24 hours a day. Six months later in the February of 2018 I was selected to represent Great Britain at my first World Cup in Hungary. I was soundly beaten by some of the world’s best wheelchair fencers but I could see the progression I had made and knew I had made the right decision’ . A further six months on and he won his first individual medal, a Bronze, at the IWAS (International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports) World Cup in Montreal. A Bronze medal in the Team Epee competition at the 2019 World Championships soon followed. It was the first ever won by a British wheelchair fencing team and helped persuade UK Sport to invest in fencing for the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo. At the same time Oliver was placed on the British Disability Fencing Programme which meant a move from London to Bath and to a way of training that was far more structured and professional than anything he had experienced. For the first time he was supported by a team of full time coaches, physios, nutritionists and sports psychologists. ‘Everything in fact that I needed to be the best fencer I could possibly be.’ For some, Covid (and a postponement of the Tokyo games) came at completely the wrong time, for others, including Oliver, the delay meant that he could use the time to work on his fitness and
‘The biggest challenge was not my leg or the fact that I could not walk but society’s perception of me and what I was capable of. Four years ago I was told I would never be an athlete, so if you are young and having a tough time: I get it, that was me too. I encourage you to dream big, make every moment count, and don’t listen when they tell you to ‘take it easy, play it safe’…’
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