Vanessa Wallace is a British Paralympian, European Shot Put Champion, and a Bronze World Champion.

Wallace was born with Ehlers Danlos syndrome, which started to affect her as a teenager. It developed into a neurological condition, Dystonia, which meant she could barely move by the time she was 30.

Now, Wallace uses a wheelchair and struggles with co-ordination, fatigue and pain, but has said that participating in sports has changed her life.

Wallace won her first World Championship medal with bronze in the F34 shot put in Dubai in 2019. In 2018, she competed at the European Championships in Berlin and took the crown. This was her first major international medal. Before that, she placed fifth at the Rio 2016 Paralympics.

She began her shotput career in 2014, when she was spotted during a talent day. Wallace took up shotput a year later. Just 18 months after throwing her first shot she reached the finals in Rio Paralympics.

She told ITV in 2017: “There aren’t enough muscles in my face to smile hard enough for how proud I am every time I get to put on my GB kit.

Paralympics British / English, Athlete, Track & Field, Disability, Chronic Diseases, Olympic Sports, Award-Winning Athlete, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Celebrity, Health,