'Cheer her on!' - Whitby couple drum up support for daughter at Paris Olympics
The father of medal hopeful Georgie Brayshaw has taken to social media to drum up support as his daughter competes at the Paris Olympics.
Whitby resident, Robert Brayshaw, has appealed to the people of Whitby to cheer his daughter on as she competes in the heats of the Women’s Quadruple Sculls at the Paris Olympics on Saturday (July 27).
Georgie, 30, will compete at 12pm UK time tomorrow, and if successful will progress straight to the A final medal race on Wednesday, July 31.
Georgie and her team mates Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott and Lola Anderson are the current World and European Champions.
Mr Brayshaw said on The Real Whitby Facebook Page: “Hopefully Whitby will cheer her on!”
The Leeds-born rower has battled her way through the after-effects of a harrowing horse riding accident as a teenager and an unexpected late start to rowing.
She was left in a coma at the age of 15 which left her paralysed on her left side for about a year.
Miss Brayshaw said; “The last thing I remember from the day of the accident was about half an hour before when I was setting off my with friends galloping through a field and then I don't remember anything from there until a week after I woke up.
“What happened was there was a road in the field and my horse was just being an idiot and wasn't slowing down, he slid over on the road and I slid off and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance came to get me.
“My first memory after it was my mum taking me to the shops near the hospital just to try and get me moving.
“We went to Morrisons and I was asking the cashier if they were a doctor and whether I could go home.
“After that, I had to retrain myself to use the left side of my body but even when I started rowing at 22, coaches noticed that there were so many instances where my left side just did not connect in the gym so I had to do loads of extra work.”
Miss Brayshaw started rowing in her second year of university.
She said: “I'm not from a sporty family but my dad had always thought about rowing so pushed me to do it in second year.
“The rowing club at the University of Northampton was only in its second year itself and we would only go out once a week and it wasn't serious at all.
“But the coach at the local club thought I would be quite good so helped me try out for GB Start.
“I didn't get in and a family difficulty led me to quit in third year and then I didn't start rowing again until post-university.
“I went to my local club in Leeds, tried out for GB Start again and got in this time which started my rowing journey from there.”
You can watch Georgie compete (and cheer her on) on BBC TV and iplayer which are providing extensive coverage of the Paris Olympics.