Paris 2024 Paralympic: Deaf athlete to hear crowd’s cheer for first time

Ms Hext, who trains at Team Bath, said she was “in a rut” while in hospital, but was lucky the Paralympics were being shown on TV.

“That gave me that nugget of hope.

“Seeing athletes completely smashing it despite their disability, I was like, well, if they can do it, I can do it.

“There’s so many challenges in daily life that I have,” she said, adding they “just go” when she is riding or swimming.

Looking ahead to the Paris Paralympics, the athlete said: “I just want to fully immerse myself in the whole experience.

“Being around teammates, cheering each other on, that’s a massive part of it.

“Obviously I’d love to win a medal, but if I come out of Paris giving it everything I’ve got and knowing that I put everything in that I can, then I’ll be over the moon.”

In 2023, she won the Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester only days after recovering from respiratory illness related to her asthma that ended with her being admitted to a high-dependency hospital.