A BRAVE University of Worcester graduate has been chosen for the Great Britain Para-rowing team at the forthcoming World Championships having triumphed over adversity and injury to win her place.
Giedre Rakauskaite, 26, from Worcester, started rowing at the age of 14 when she was spotted by a talent scout in Lithuania, but barely a year later her life was turned upside down by a car accident.
“My leg was pretty badly injured,” she said.
“They were talking about having to amputate, but I told them they had to try harder to save it and as I went into theatre the surgeons said they’d see what they could do.
“When I woke up, I had no idea if they had been able to save my leg or not. Obviously I was pretty relieved to find it was still there.”
Following the accident, Giedre could not walk for almost a year but, as soon as she was back on her feet, she wanted to be back in a boat.
“I used to turn up at the rowing club on crutches and I could tell that some people were thinking ‘what’s she doing here? she can’t even walk’, but when we got out on the water and I beat them all. I used to feel pretty pleased.”
Giedre came to Worcester from Lithuania to study sports coaching science for six months as part of the Erasmus study programme in September 2011.
The 26-year-old fell in love with the city and decided to stay and began her full programme in January 2012, completing her degree three years ago.
“I chose Worcester because they had a good rowing club at the university and the UK is the top nation in the world for rowing,” she said.
After completing her degree, Giedre stayed in Worcester and secured a job as a rowing coach with the Hereford Cathedral School and joined Worcester Rowing Club (WRC).
In 2015, a coach from WRC met a recruiter from British Rowing whilst attending an event at the University Arena and recommended Giedre as a possible star of the future.
Two years on and ten years since her accident, Giedre has taken a major step toward achieving her dream, achieving selection for the GB Para-rowing squad’s premier boat, the mixed coxed four – the gold-medal winning boat at the last two Paralympic Games.
She will now compete at the World Championships in Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida, which run from September 24 to October 1.
“I always wanted to be an international athlete,” Giedre said. “But this is just the first step, now I want to go on and win things and work towards winning a place in the boat for Tokyo 2020.
“When I first got injured I wondered if my dream of being an international athlete had gone, but now I feel like the window has opened where the door had closed.”