David Weir to take time over Rio decision

 
11 September 2012

David Weir will decide by this time next year whether he plans to compete at the 2016 Paralympics.

The 33-year-old wheelchair athlete has been one of the stars of London 2012, which many believe has taken the Paralympic Games to a new level.

Weir took four gold medals in his home town and talk has already turned to whether he will appear in Rio de Janeiro - a fifth Paralympics that the south Londoner insists he is not yet contemplating.

"I haven't made a decision on anything, when I'm going back to training, what I'm going to do tomorrow or anything," Weir said.

"So, I need to sit down and see what I've done.

"Can I do it again? I don't know. I thought this was impossible going into these Games.

"I didn't think that any male in the T54 could do it in this modern era, win four gold medals, and I've achieved a massive goal.

"I don't know, I don't know. I reckon probably a year from now [I would have to make that call]. If I had a year out then I would have to say if I'm going actually going to train for it or not.

"Because, if you left it too late, there's no way you'd be fit enough because the guys would be on another level by then."

While Weir's Paralympic future is up in the air, he is confident that the momentum of a "special" few weeks will continue onto Brazil.

"The exposure has massively surpassed expectations," he said. "When you see us on the front of the papers and the back as well on the same day, yeah, it's special.

"The other day, it made me laugh when Usain Bolt's Diamond League was five or six pages back from us.

"So that just put a little bit of a smile on my face. It's been special. To keep the momentum going we need to make sure a lot of Paralympians are still in the media, make sure that a lot of the Paralympic sports are covered more on TV and radio and in the papers as well.

"I think that will carry on to Rio. People are very interested in Paralympic sport and what we've achieved in the last 10-11 days."

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