Anne Dickins

Anne Dickins, MBE (born 20 February 1967) is a British paracanoeist who competes in the KL3 classification. She won gold in this event at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, and has also won two World Championship and three European Championship golds.

Anne Dickins
MBE
Personal information
Born (1967-02-20) 20 February 1967
Glasgow, Scotland
Height1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight69 kg (152 lb)[1]
Sport
SportParacanoe
Disability classKL3
Medal record
Women's paracanoeing
Representing  Great Britain
Paralympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2016 Rio KL3
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2014 Moscow K-1 LTA
Gold medal – first place 2016 Duisburg KL3
Silver medal – second place 2013 Duisburg K-1 LTA
Silver medal – second place 2015 Milan KL3

Background

Dickins was born in Glasgow, Scotland and lives in Oxted, Surrey.[1] She is a physiotherapist by profession. She competed as an endurance mountain biker until she ruptured a disc in her back in 2011, which led to her developing cauda equina syndrome[2] resulting in permanent nerve damage in her right leg.[3]

Dickins was a volunteer Games Maker at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, where she met Colin Radmore, a canoeing coach who invited her to try out for the Great Britain paracanoeing team.[2] She had to overcome seasickness when she took up the sport, and underwent a desensitisation programme similar to those used by fighter pilots.[4]

Career

In her first year of competition, Dickins won gold at the 2013 European Championships[2] and silver at the World Championships in the K-1 200m LTA class.[5] In 2014 she successfully defended her European Championship title and won her first World Championship gold.[6] In 2015 she won a third successive European Championship title and won the silver medal in the World Championships, competing in the K-1 200m KL3 class.[nb 1][8] At the 2016 World Championships she won gold in the K-1 200m KL3 class.[8]

Dickins won gold in the KL3 class at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, the first Paralympics to feature canoeing events, beating Amanda Reynolds by a margin of 0.03 seconds.[9]

Dickins was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to canoeing.[10]

Notes
  1. The International Canoe Federation reclassified the LTA category as the KL3 category from 2015 onwards.[7]

References
  1. "Anne Dickins". British Canoeing. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  2. "European paracanoe champion Anne Dickins' amazing story". BBC Sport. 10 July 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
  3. "Anne Dickins gets moving to take gold in Rio". The Scotsman. 16 September 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  4. Watts, Matt (7 September 2016). "Anne Dickins: I beat seasickness to become a paracanoeist". Evening Standard. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  5. "Paracanoe: British paddlers win five world titles in Germany". BBC Sport. 30 August 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  6. "'Reputation' at stake for Anne Dickins in Para canoe World Champs". International Paralympic Committee. 16 May 2016. Archived from the original on 18 May 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  7. "Paracanoeing". World Paddle Awards. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  8. "Anne Dickins". Rio 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  9. Steinberg, Jacob (15 September 2016). "Chippington, Wiggs and Dickins clinch ParalympicsGB canoeing golds". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  10. "No. 61803". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2016. p. N17.
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