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Fearless Simpson brothers are changing the game in visually impaired skiing | Ade Adepitan

Neil Simpson is visually impaired and he and his brother have set the pace while Ukrainian athletes have led the way with their courageWhen Neil Simpson set off on his gold medal-winning run in the men’s super-G, I remember looking at the start and thinking “… interesting”. Normally, when you watch visually impaired skiers there’s a connection: the guide goes off and the skier follows straight behind. But that’s not how Neil and his brother Andrew do it. When the bell goes Andrew just flies out. His approach is: I’m going to ski down this hill as fast as I can and you’ve got to catch me.At the age of 19 and 21 it’s the exuberance and naivety of youth,...

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The Winter Paralympics can give people inspiration to change their lives | Ade Adepitan

This powerful competition has a more important job than the Olympics in opening doors and lifting the oppressed in societyI was taught to ski by a guy called Bill Bowness. He has sadly passed away now, but he was an American Paralympian with this big beard and a proper chilled vibe. He took me up a slope at Lake Tahoe once in one of the early sit skis and I remember it to this day: a fibreglass bucket seat bolted to a frame on top of a ski. Even balancing on one of these things was hard enough. I was horror-struck, but there was Bill teaching me, cool as you like, and he was literally skiing down the mountain backwards...

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