Behan overcomes adversity to make Olympic Finals
Post categories: Gymnastics
| 14:45 UK time, Friday, 13 January 2012
It's not hard to understand Kieran Behan's ecstatic disbelief at making the 2012 Olympics, becoming only the second Irish gymnast in history to qualify.
"I kept myself awake yesterday because I didn't want to wake up and it not be true," he says. "It's so, so surreal."
There'll be plenty of stories of triumph over adversity at London 2012, but I'm prepared to bet that there won't be many more inspiring.
When Behan was just 10, a non-cancerous tumour was discovered in his left leg. The operation to remove it went wrong and he was left in a wheelchair with severe nerve damage. His parents were told he might never walk again, let alone do gymnastics.
I'm Eleanor Oldroyd and I present Thursday night's 5 live Sport, where we will increasingly be focusing on London 2012, which will be the sixth summer Olympic Games I've covered for the BBC. I love a great range of sports - from motorsport to modern pentathlon - and I'm looking forward to talking about most of them, on air and here on my blog.
