On Tuesday’s instalment of BBC Breakfast, Paralympian Lauren Steadman spoke about her bronze medal achievement.
Former Strictly Come Dancing star Lauren Steadman has given BBC Breakfast viewers an update on her health.
The Paralympian, who was partnered with professional dancer AJ Pritchard back in 2018, appeared on the show live from Paris.
While Lauren was being asked if she had fully recovered from long covid, the BBC presenter questioned if she was still struggling, as Lauren nodded her head.
She then bravely confessed: “Yeah, I’m really struggling. Six months ago I was doing five kilometres and my heart rate was up in the 180s.
“It was devastating, the days in bed and you mentioned defending champion, it’s not how you want to go into a games.
“So, for me readjusting my expectations of what it would look like. I just wanted to cross that line.”
Lauren told the BBC reporter she wanted to make everyone proud and do a performance she believed was good for her current standard.
Lauren added: “We’re still recovering, still have Europeans and Worlds this year. But, you can only do what you have on the day so I was chuffed.”
This week, the athlete secured a bronze medal for Team GB, bursting into tears when crossing over the finish line.
Aside from her incredible Paralympic career, BBC viewers will remember Lauren’s time on Strictly Come Dancing six years ago.
She narrowly missed out on a place in the final as Lauren finished the competition in fifth place.
Speaking about her appearance on the long-running dance show at the time, Lauren confessed it changed people’s perceptions of her disability.
“Before, kids and adults would look at me and see my arm first before they saw me,” she told BBC Look East in 2019.
“Whereas now they don’t even see my arm – it’s been normalised – and it’s just ‘that’s Lauren’ and ‘Lauren, you’re doing amazing’.
“I think that’s how it should be, and it’s just really lovely to be able to inspire everyone and show them that anything’s possible.”
The countdown for this year’s Strictly Come Dancing has officially begun as a fresh batch of stars prepare to take to the dancefloor.
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Source: Los Angeles Times1
