Paralympic cyclist Anna Taylor. Photo / Attitude Pictures Ltd
Paralympic cyclist Anna Taylor. Photo / Attitude Pictures Ltd
By the age of 25, Anna Taylor had already overcome plenty in her sporting career.
Born and raised in Taupō and educated at first Taupō-nui-a-Tia College and then St Peter's Cambridge, Anna had won a rowing scholarship to attend Oregon State University where as well as completing degrees in sportscience and public health she secured the prestigious title of All-American rower. She had also clawed her way back to full health after beating thyroid cancer in 2011.
She faced a further challenge with a labral tear in her hip which required surgery but with her degrees in hand and a job as a youth mental health worker with Waikato District Health Board, Anna returned to New Zealand in June 2015 expecting to spend a year rebuilding her strength and base fitness and preparing to row competitively again. The sky was the limit.
Except it wasn't. Because just as she was recovering from the hip surgery, she unexpectedly suffered a major spinal cord injury, causing paralysis. Although Anna had suffered from a bulged disc in the past, the cord injury, known as cauda equina, came on without any warning.
"I just woke up one day in terrible pain. It was just a severe disc prolapse that happened in my sleep."
It was frightening for Anna, whose disc had prolapsed inwards into her spinal cord causing temporary paralysis in her left leg. But she kept thinking that because she was fit and young, with the right treatment and time she would be back in the boat.
Anna Taylor, rowing for Oregon State University in 2014. Photo / Supplied
But as her rehabilitation progressed, her strength never reappeared. Gradually it dawned that she would never row at the same level as before.
A friend suggested she try para sport - the para stands for parallel, not paraplegic as many people assume, and its pinnacle, the Paralympics, is highly competitive.
"My understanding of the Paralympics and para sport was for people missing limbs, people with quite obvious and severe disability...I didn't think I would qualify. I can still move my limbs, they're just weaker and I can't move them the same."
Still, Anna made inquiries with Paralympics New Zealand and was eventually invited to train as a cyclist, where she has become part of the high performance team and will compete at the Tokyo Paralympics over the next fortnight.
Despite that, it took Anna a long time to accept that she was now a para cyclist, not a rower.
"When I first started, I wasn't super keen but I think I just needed a new challenge, something different, something to distract me from the loss of what I thought my future was.
"I guess it was so different and something I hadn't really done before. It allowed me to not have any expectations of what fast was, or what strength was, because I didn't have a gauge on that which I guess is kind of a blessing."
Anna Taylor competing at the UCI 2019 Para-Cycling Track World Championships in The Netherlands in 2019. Photo / SWpix.com.
She says having already been an elite athlete helps because a lot of the training principles are the same although the hardest part was understanding what it meant to have a spinal cord injury.
"My muscles just don't work as well as I want to and I need more rest. It's quite frustrating when you start out because the things I used to be able to do easily, the limiting factor is my body and not my mind.
"My mind is fine, I feel great but my legs, they're done."
Anna is classified a C4 para athlete, with athletes in her discipline ranked from C1 (most impaired) to C5 (least impaired).
"My back is fine in cycling, I just can't generate as much force or power or endurance, I'm just not at full capacity," she explains.
Anna rode for New Zealand at the UCI Para Cycling Track World Championships in The Netherlands in March 2019 and at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Canada in January 2020. She says it's hard to predict how she will do in Tokyo.
"We haven't raced in a year and a half, we don't know where we are. It's just a privilege to be selected."
Anna (left) and fellow para athlete Nicole Murray preparing for the heat of Tokyo, by using the heat chamber in the Adams Centre High Performance Centre in Tauranga. Photo / George Novak BOP Times
If this experience has shown her anything, it is that there is more than one road to success and there is life on the other side of even an injury as severe as hers. Her determination was recognised with the Sporting Endeavour Award at last year's nation-wide Attitude Awards.
"I'm really grateful that [para cycling] is an established sport, the Paralympics is an established entity and they offer elite competition for people with disabilities. It's one of the biggest movers of social change and inclusion and equality for people with disabilities and it's really cool to be part of that."
Anna left New Zealand for the Tokyo Paralympics yesterday.
Anna's Tokyo Paralympics Events
Wednesday August 25: Women's C4 3000m individual pursuit (track)
Friday August 27: Women's C4-5 500m time trial (track)
