Dan Bethell still smiles when he remembers the moment everything changed.

The future Paralympian was in a law lecture at the University of Bristol, but for once he wasn’t paying attention.

“I was watching the news on my phone and I suddenly got up and sprinted out,” Dan recalled. “I was ringing my family, my friends. It was such an exciting moment for me and for para-badminton as a sport.”

The sport Dan loved – the sport he had dedicated half his life to – had finally made it into the Paralympics.

“We’d tried to get it into London and Rio but were unsuccessful,” Dan said. “Back then the only funding I had was my University of Bristol sports scholarship, so every year I was spending £15,000 to £20,000 pounds of my own money training and getting to tournaments.”

Over the past decade Dan had made it to the highest levels of para-badminton. He knew he was in for a shot at making Tokyo – and even clinching a medal.

Punishing training

“I had always dreamed of the Paralympics but without it being a Paralympic sport I had assumed badminton would always be a hobby,” Dan said.

“Suddenly I had funding and was able to basically go fulltime alongside my studies.”

As Tokyo drew nearer, Dan would often rise at 5.30am, train until his lectures started at 9am and play badminton late into the evenings.

Students often enjoy post-match socials on a Wednesday afternoon. But Dan didn’t make a single one over the eight years he was at the University because he was always on court.

Dan said: “I basically lived in the library, lecture theatre and sports hall. I look back now and think ‘how on Earth did I do that during a degree?’ The number of training hours I did then aren’t far off what I do now as a fulltime athlete. I absolutely loved my time at uni though.”

The training paid off. Dan went on to take silver at Tokyo and Paris – and is now aiming for the Los Angeles Games in 2028.

Not just sport

And for Dan, the Paralympics are about far more than just sport.

For someone who didn’t meet anyone else with cerebral palsy until he was 12 years old, the Paralympics gave him community and representation at a time when disability was rarely seen on TV.

As he rose through the elite sporting ranks he picked up life skills from fellow athletes, like how to tie his shoelaces with one hand  – Dan has limited mobility on his right side  –  and how to drive a disability-adapted car.

Dan competed in India, Thailand, Japan and all over Europe, making lifelong friends along the way (two teammates will be groomsmen at his wedding next year) and he slowly became the role model that he needed when he was young.

The four-time European para-badminton winner said: “I started seeing these people on TV doing these incredible things at the Paras and I thought ‘I’d really love to be part of that movement’. They inspired me to start playing badminton.

“When I first tried badminton I was that rubbish, I thought that even if it did become a Paralympic sport, any dream of getting there would never happen.

“The reason I kept going is because of the amazing people I met, some who have gone through horrendous accidents and were rebuilding their lives.

“Now I’m in the position at the Paralympics where I’m winning medals. There might be kids out there, very much like me, who are at that age where they are just starting to understand that there is something a bit different about them, and might not know many people with a disability.

“They might see the Paras and want to give it a go. It’s something I take a lot of pride in, being that role model and being able to bring up the next generation.”

Paris and Jürgen Klopp

After a Covid-stricken Games in Tokyo, the atmosphere in Paris was “amazing”, with crowds of 6,500 screaming so loud that Dan could barely hear his coach.

“I’ve never played in an environment like that, it’s just a different scale to anything I’d done before,” Dan said.

“Walking off after my first match, I heard this man shouting my name in a German accent. I looked around and it was Jürgen Klopp! The next day he was in the front row and when I came off he was waving. I thought ‘this is really, really cool’.”

Dan beat opponents from New Zealand, Ukraine and Japan in the group stages, saw off a Thai player in the semis and finally lost to India’s Kumar Nitesh two sets to one in a tight final.

Bristol homecoming

The double medal winner recently returned to the University of Bristol to meet the coaches and staff who were by his side for nearly a decade. Dan studied first for a law undergraduate and later for a law master’s (taken part-time over five years).

Matt Paine, Performance Sport Manager at the University of Bristol, said: “I still remember Dan walking through the door at open day and saying he wanted to win a para-badminton medal. At the time it wasn't even a Paralympic sport, but he always had that drive and determination to better himself and better the sport.

“To watch him develop as an athlete and a person has been extraordinary and we loved watching him win the silvers in Tokyo and Paris.

“I’ve always felt really proud of Dan. He’s gone from a student, to an athlete, to a friend.”

Dan said: “Bristol Uni is massive in my story. I wasn’t an athlete when I joined the University – I’d never done any nutrition or strength and conditioning – and Bristol really opened my eyes to what being an elite athlete is like.

“Getting a degree from a top university really set me up for post-athlete life. It also really helped on court knowing that if things didn’t work out in badminton, I’d still have this amazing degree to fall back on.”

Dan also met the University’s Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Evelyn Welch, during his victory lap at the University.

Prof Welch said she was “delighted” to meet the Paralympian, adding: “Dan has shown incredible drive and resolve to make it to the very top of his sport. We are proud to call him a Bristol alumnus.”

Normal life won’t resume for at least four more years – as he heads toward the LA Games.

Dan, who will be 32 in 2028, said: “I thought about retiring after Paris, but I’ve got this finite window to be an athlete. So I’m going for it while my body is just about hanging on!”