Portsmouth’s Lorraine Lambert selected for the Tokyo Paralympics

The Portsmouth native was announced as one of the first six athletes confirmed in the ParalympicsGB squad to compete at the postponed Tokyo 2020 Games, which are due to begin on August 24.

Lambert was first introduced to shooting through the Nautical Training Corps when she was younger and, after having her left leg amputated in early 2010, she rediscovered the sport of shooting and made her debut on the Paralympic stage in Rio six years later.

At that competition, Lambert exceeded her own expectations, making the final and finishing fifth in the R8 – Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1.

But with Tokyo on the horizon once again, Lambert is going all in with her training – despite not knowing if the competition will go ahead.

‘I’m really excited,’ explained Lambert, one of more than 1,100 National Lottery-funded elite athletes on UK Sport’s World Class Programme.

‘Being selected for Tokyo is a really proud moment to represent your country and hopefully bring home the shinies.

‘We’re still training as if it’s going ahead right up until the day. I know I’m training as if I’m going and that’s it.

‘I watched Adam Peaty and he said just run at the wall full pelt and if you hit the wall, it wasn’t meant to be – and if you go straight through it, you know you were supposed to be there.

‘We’re very lucky to have lots of support around us, including from The National Lottery, which is a big help in times like these.”

Being on UK Sport’s World Class Programme, funded by The National Lottery, allows Lambert to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering technology, science and medical support.

And being able to connect with her fellow teammates virtually and receive support from British Shooting during the past year has been invaluable.

Especially as she has had the added task of homeschooling her 15-year-old son Rudi, who was due to sit his GCSEs later this year.

‘We’ve got a good team around us and we’re really thankful we’ve got such supportive staff at British Shooting,’ explained Lambert, who is looking to add to the 864 Olympic and Paralympic medals won by Great Britain and Northern Ireland athletes since the start of Lottery funding in 1997.

‘We set up the Target Tokyo challenge so we all decided we were going to raise money for the NHS charity so we went from virtually London to Tokyo and back, so it’s over 16,000 miles.

‘We walked, swam, pushed, and did lots of spin biking and raised a few thousand pounds for them which was really good.

‘It was a positive thing and also trying to keep everyone positive and trying to promote good mental health through fitness which is a really big thing for us.

‘My son is 15 so he’s doing his GCSEs, well he was doing his GCSEs, and he’s so dedicated because he wants to be an engineer.

‘He’s also taken it on himself, we have a set structure and I think that is the key for anyone that is homeschooling – just try and have a structured day.

‘I just think structure is the main thing for anyone that’s doing online schooling. My heart goes out to you, it’s not easy.’

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No one does more to support our Olympic and Paralympic athletes than National Lottery players, who raise around £30 million each week for good causes. Discover the positive impact playing the National Lottery has on sport at www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk and get involved by using the hashtags: #TNLAthletes #TracktoTokyo