Janet Gray with her gold medals. LOCAL heroine Janet Gray made a golden return to competitive water-skiing last weekend when she claimed three gold and one bronze medal at the European, African and Middle East Championships for the blind in London. Hillsborough woman Janet was back in the sport following a near-fatal training accident two years ago, taking gold in both the slalom and tricks events, gold in the team event and bronze in the overall event.
"I'm really pleased. In the team training everything that could go wrong did go wrong and I'm not at peak fitness so I honestly didn't expect it," said a thrilled Janet.
Janet made her fantastic return to the sport just two and a half years after a horrific training accident in Florida left her fighting for her life.
She suffered multiple fractures to her face, arm, hip and leg and her life hung in the balance. Janet spent three weeks in intensive care in Florida before being transferred by air ambulance to Belfast where she remained hospitalised for several months.
"I was written off in both the medical and sporting world, it seemed impossible I would be back competing, thankfully I've got back," added Janet.
"I'm only back on the water since June, I took part just to see how it went. My goal was to have a team medal, the build-up was fraught with problems but I had great support from the Sports Institute at the University of Ulster, with lots of conditioning work they got me back on my feet.
"It was a great tournament, I had a lovely team, everyone was fantastic and they were pleased to have me back, the competitors, officials and judges, everyone was really nice."
"I have been invited to the World Championships next May in Townsville in Northern Australia, however we are at the end of the season now and I won't have much time on the water, maybe a little winter training, but I'll see how that goes. I have a lot of work to do to get my fitness levels up.
"I've also just been taken on as Chair of the British Disabled Water Ski Association Tournament Committee. It's a lot of work but it's nice to be able to give back to the sport, I want to help develop the sport and give something back to it.
"I've had great support with lots of texts and good luck messages sent to me, so I'd like to say a big thank you to everybody who wished me well.
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