Tokyo memories of Blackpool Paralympian Brian Dickinson: a champion of wheelchair fencing in every sense

Blackpool-born wheelchair athlete Isaac Towers competes for Great Britain in the 800m in Tokyo tomorrow, continuing the resort’s proud Paralympic tradition.
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One sport in which the Fylde coast has excelled in past Games is wheelchair fencing, though the 2021 team contains no representatives from this area after 2012 London Paralympian Justine Moore was unsuccessful in qualifying.

Watching the event from home is the man who took Blackpool to the forefront of wheelchair fencing Brian Dickinson, whose first Paralympicz were the previous Tokyo Games of 1964, when he won the first three of his six medals (three silvers, three bronze).

Brian Dickinson and wife Val with Paralympic medals and other mementoes from the Tokyo Games of 1964Brian Dickinson and wife Val with Paralympic medals and other mementoes from the Tokyo Games of 1964
Brian Dickinson and wife Val with Paralympic medals and other mementoes from the Tokyo Games of 1964
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These Games are an emotional watch for Brian, being the first since the passing in January of his great friend, protege and fellow five-time Paralympian David Heaton at the age of 47.

Heaton was coached by Brian and his first Games, at Barcelona in 1992, were Dickinson’s last as a competitor.

Paralympic gold eluded Brian but he has a collection of such medals from national, Commonwealth, European and World championships.

He went on to be general secretary of the International Wheelchair Fencing Committee from 1994-2005, served on the Directoire Technique (managing elite world competitions), became president of the British Disabled Fencing Association, organised the 1994 European Championships at Blackpool’s Norbreck Hotel and was awarded the MBE for services to his sport.

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As the current Paralympics continue Brian, now 83 and living on Preston New Road, recflects on those first Tokyo Games 57 years ago.

He told The Gazette: “The British team had a good year and finished second in the medal table with 18 golds.

“It was only my second long-haul flight. My first was to Perth, Australia, in 1962 for the first Commonwealth Paraplegic Games. I remember receiving a certificate for flying over the North Pole.

“My memories of Japan are overwhelmingly positive. It really helped to bring the whole disabled community out into the open, having previously been behind closed doors.

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“We didn’t have anything like the number of Paralympians we have today and the events were not held in the same stadia as the Olympics.”

Brian won bronze in the men’s team epee but his other medals in Tokyo were for swimming, in the 50m breaststroke and freestyle.

“In the early Paralympics you had to compete in more than one sport,” he explains. “I was in the basketball team as well, though I didn’t play in Tokyo. I swam and fenced at the Tel Aviv Paralympics in 1968 as well, but once you were allowed to concentrate on one sport it was the fencing I took seriously.”

Brian recalls how his passion for the sport first stirred: “I remember seeing a demonstration of wheelchair fencing and saying that I’d like a fencing jacket and blade. I started lessons at the old Collegiate College and began competing, firstly in the novice class and then with the big boys.”

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He had moved to Blackpool in 1957, while still in his teens, having been raised in Atherton. A cyst on his spinal cord resulted in an operation on his 21st birthday and Brian has used a wheelchair ever since.

“I remember being in the spinal injuries unit at Southport and they took us to Stoke Mandeville, where the Games which would become the Paralympics first started in 1948. That was inspiring,” he says.

Brian played a part in taking the Games back to Stoke Mandeville in 1984, when new hosts were required at short notice after Illinois, USA, pulled out due to financial difficulties.

It was the start of Brian’s prominent and rewarding career in what he calls the ‘politics’ of sport, though he continued to compete and won two more medals at those 1984 Games.

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“We co-hosted with New York and the Games were a success,” he says. “I got involved by chance but we had a good team around us.”

Brian, who also ran a family guest house on Palatine Road, became involved in all aspects of his beloved sport as it evolved, including competition rules and equipment design, and his contribution was recognised in the Queen’s New Year Honours seven years ago.

A top coach too, whose students include Paralympians Jim Parkinson and Deborah Mabbett, Brian has returned to Japan once since 1964.

“I gave a lecture in Kyoto about wheelchair fencing and rehabilitation through sport,” he recalls, though he was in Tokyo in spirit with the successful GB team of 2021.

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“I admire them completely for getting these Games on in such difficult circumstances,” he says. “I’m really pleased it went ahead after so much work by everyone concerned.”

And there was no shortage of medal success for Brian to cheer, which didn’t surprise him. “We have some great fencers on the team,” he says.

But thoughts of absent friends can never be far away at this time. “David Heaton was my greatest friend. I coached him from the start and he was very special to me,” says Brian.

Also extremely special is Val, Brian’s wife of 35 years. “She has supported me with everything,” he says. “I’ve had an interesting life.

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