We’ll have our day but it won’t be ‘D’-Day says Sir Philip Craven

Don’t use the term disabled, says chief of Paralympics, who is sure that unique spirit of the Games will make it as big a hit as the Olympics

Sir Philip Craven, head of the International Paralympic Committee, has been confined to a wheelchair since the age of 16 but within days of the accident which paralysed him he knew what he would do with the rest of his life.

“I never thought, why me?” he says. “Even my wife has said she doesn’t believe me but on the second or third day from my bed in the Southport spinal unit, I saw wheelchair basketball on the tennis court outside. Something must’ve clicked in my head: you can still do sport.”