Avia Collinder, Outlook Writer
(Left)Alexandra Rickham is at home on the water. and (Right) Alexandra Rickham's dream of competing was revived through Paralympic sailing after the accident which left her disabled - Contributed
With partner Niki Birrell, Jamaican sailor Alexandra Rickham took the gold in the first paralympic qualifying event in Qingdao, China, in mid-May. The duo came out on top against strong international competition.
Rewind to summer 1995 when Rickham, an avid sports lover, met in the diving accident which left her paralysed and unable to walk.
Those who heard about it never thought that she would experience the joys of competition again. But, today, Rickham is looking forward to flying the flag of her dad's country - Britain - high, by securing first place in the paralympic sailing finals in Beijing, China.
Alexandra, who lived with parents Elethia and David Rickham in St Ann until 1994 when she joined sister Victoria at school in the England, enjoyed tennis, swimming and horseback riding until the day in 1995 when she suffered spinal cord injury in the diving accident in Mammee Bay, St Ann.
Rickham admits that she did not "totally" grasp just how disabled she was when she was first hospitalised.
Mom Elethia Rickham remembers that her daughter was on holiday when she met in the accident which fractured her fifth and sixth vertebrae.
"I was there at the time of the accident. I really thought it could be treated," Elethia Rickham said.
The family was optimistic and did not realise the implications until the doctors told them that Alexandra would never be able to walk again.
Alexandra's paternal granddad, a renowned paediatric surgeon in the United Kingdom (UK) who wanted her to follow in his footsteps, took her under his wing as she went to the European country to live, be treated, and eventually attend school again.
Alexandra is also the granddaughter of Consie Walters, after whom the Consie Walters Cancer Hospice is named. Consie Walters worked with The Gleaner and was director of Broadcasting at the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation before his death.
will to persist
From a family of achievers, the will to persist until success is secured, is in her blood, one could say.
Alexandra states that time has been a major factor in healing her physically as well as emotionally.
She told Outlook, "I had my accident when I was quite young so the emotional effects are really different from being older. I was obviously sad but while I was in rehab at Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, I was exposed to sailing, tennis, swimming, etc. This made me feel sure I could do everything I had always done."
Just one year after completing rehab in 1996, Rickham joined the previously all- male wheelchair rugby team in the UK, and in 2001 turned to ski-cart, snow skiing in Sweden.
She also focused on her academic studies, achieving nine O'Levels - all with A's - and later she graduated from the University of Bath with an honours degree in Natural Sciences in 2004, and from the Imperial College in London with an MSc in Environmental Science in 2007.
Alexandra is mad about the environment - just as much as she is enthralled with sports.
Sportcasters have observed that her Qingdao gold in May marked a "meteoric rise to form in class".
Rickham and partner Birrell joined forces for the first time at the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta in January 2008.
They took the bronze at their second event - the US-Disabled Open midwinter in St Petersburg, USA. This event secured their nomination by the Royal Yachting Association.
To be selected for the paralympic games is considered a lifetime achievement, no mean feat for the young woman, who was taken by surprise by her disability 13 years ago.
goal-oriented
She states today, "Being competitive means you are goal-oriented and will often stop at nothing to get what you want. I wanted to get back to my life, school and friends and I was going to do whatever I could to do that, so I worked really hard through rehab."
Rickham, who will celebrate her 27th birthday during the Beijing Games this year, says her family provided "the best and most positive support system ever".
Greatest of all, she states, was Mom Elethia, who encouraged her continuously for "the very difficult first year and next four years, pushing me really hard.
"I wasn't allowed to give up or not try anything. She made me go swimming after having a diving accident and try tennis again."
Alexandra believes that having an accident is "always harder for those around you. I know I felt I had to be strong for them and just get on with it. If I had got depressed it wouldn't have been fair on those around me."
Now that she is actively involved in competition again, the sailor says that being in competition has meant living out of a suitcase for the most part.
It is enjoyable. In many ways, she states, competition has increased her self-confidence.
"Competition has offered me the rush of adrenaline and the opportunity to be part of a team again, which I suppose is a type of relationship I have missed."
She enjoys the emotional bonding involved in team sport.
"Niki is very much like a member of my family now."
In all, she sates, "I guess I have found a bit of who I always was again, which has been quite a strange experience."
Olympic cycle
Alexandra is currently sailing full time and is making the sport her career.
She states, "I hope to continue through the next Olympic cycle and would hope to be able to represent Team GBR on home soil in Weymouth during London 2012."
She also hopes to keep her environmental skills up to date and is also considering PhD opportunities.
But, for the moment, she will focus on the paralympic games, before setting any other plans in motion.
The sportswoman is a big music fan, and tries to make it to gigs and festivals in Jamaica and elsewhere each summer. She also loves films, skiing, watching sports, going dancing, growing organic vegetables ("yes, I am a bit of a geek," she says) and just hanging out with friends.
Ideally, she says she would like to live for six months in Jamaica and six in the UK.
Fate has offered Alexandra a lifestyle she did not expect, but she has adapted and is determined to enjoy each day as it comes.
