 Recently, Wikinews spent time with with Australian Paralympic wheelchair basketballer Shelley Chaplin.
((Wikinews))  Interview with Shelley Chaplin. First of all, what position do you play?
((WN))  Right. And whenever I go to see the basketball in Canberra, we pass by a glass case. In the case is a guernsey with number twelve on it, and a big sign that says that this was the guernsey worn by Shelley Chaplin...
((WN))  It's signed by the rest of the team, if you look — press your nose to the glass and look really close. How did that come to be there?
((WN))  Oh okay.
((WN))  I think it's been there for longer than that.
((WN))  So they'll return that to you?
((WN))  How did you get into playing wheelchair basketball? 
((WN))  And you're a three point player?
((WN))  I'd never seen the game before. My first experience of it was when the Gliders came out on the court for that first game [in London], and I was really taken with the sport from the word go. It has a sort of grace that normal basketball lacks. But otherwise it's very similar.
((WN))  People in the press gallery were saying "I've just got to get out in a chair and..."
((WN))  So how did you get to go to Illinois? 
((WN))  You won the bronze medal there?
((WN))  Silver in Athens, bronze in Beijing. 
((WN))  Which lead to what we ran on the front page of Wikipedia.
((WN))  That's why I rang up up and asked for your birth place. Somebody raised an objection, and said maybe she was born in the US.
((WN))  I thought that was pretty spectacular, because there's not a lot of athletes in any sport that have done that [been All-American without being American].
((WN))  How did your team go while you were there?
((WN))  For five years from 2004 to 2009?
((WN))  Wow!
((WN))  So you said you played for a club here in Melbourne as well?
((WN))  Wow!
((WN))  That's a pretty amazing record. 
((WN))  And then of course there's the Gliders as well. You've got the gold... no wait...
((WN))  I was sure you'd be saying "I've already got the silver and the bronze. Give me the gold!"
((WN))  Well, the team's pretty much the same one as in Athens isn't it?
((WN))  What I noticed was when I looked over the statistics of basketball over the time you've been playing, the scores have been going up. 
((WN))  So you are a full time athlete?
((WN))  So you got a grant from the government?
((WN))  That's pretty intense though. Have you taken a break since then?
((WN))  Like what?
((WN))  Oh okay.
((WN))  Wow!
((WN))  When is that?
((WN))  Are you still with the basketball? Are you going to continue with that?
((WN))  So I might be able to catch you guys again there. 
((WN))  It must have been disappointing in London — Let me put it like this: I'm watching the game, and it's "oh no, they're losing" but you don't look like you're losing. You look like you're having the time of your life.  
((WN))  Did you see how many people were there was?  
((WN))  I was staring up at the top and I could not see the top rows. They were completely in darkness.
((WN))  The silver's pretty good! 
((WN))  It's just that the Gliders have never won. They've never won the World Championship, they've never won at the Paralympics.
((WN))  Yeah.
((WN))  Really good. 
((WN))  You played pretty well. 
((WN))  The whole team needed to find something and lift, because like... we interviewed one of your team mates, and she we can't expect to win if we're shooting 39 per cent. Then of course you went ahead and won two games shooting 39 per cent, which sort of made a bit of a liar out of her...
((WN))  The defence was where you won those games. You blocked them off. Particularly Mexico, they couldn't... Canada was even better. You kept on forcing turnovers, forcing timeouts. That was the defensive game, was the way you won it.   
((WN))  But Germany had a good defensive game as well. It must have been good, playing on your birthday.
((WN))  So how do you compare London with Beijing and Athens?
((WN))  We have a lot of statistics on the response to it. Unfortunately, being in London I couldn't see the TV coverage.  
((WN))  Apparently there was extra requests for the Gliders. So more people wanted to see you.  
((WN))  Yes.  
((WN))  It seems be be getting bigger with each set of games. 
((WN))  I've got figures from Google. London is twice as big. 
((WN))  Some of the things you were doing. The three point shot from a chair.
((WN))  And the speed at which you moved at times, in excess of what someone without a chair could do. It's just a fabulous sport. 
((WN))  Are you're definitely up for Rio as well? 
((WN))  Well I look forward to seeing you there. Thanks very much!

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Share this: 






This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Wikinews interviews Australian Paralympic wheelchair basketballer Shelley Chaplin