Jaco Van Gass: From paratrooper to Paralympic gold for Great Britain hero

Van Gass was nearly one of the 457 British personnel who died fighting in Afghanistan but now, in his second life, he’s a Paralympic champion

He’s now a Paralympic champion but paratrooper Jaco van Gass was nearly one of the 457.

In 2009, he was hit by a rocket propelled grenade on his second tour of Afghanistan. The last rites were as good as read, he lost his left arm, and needed 11 operations to save his life.

Van Gass was nearly one of the 457 British personnel who died fighting in Afghanistan.

The families of those victims and those who returned home have fought silent battles as images of the Taliban sweeping into Kabul swarmed our televisions and timelines.

In a new life, Van Gass poured matter and mind into a successful bid for Paralympic track cycling gold in Tokyo.

But there was some of the latter that strayed to lives he tried to save, families broken by war, to the silent tear-stained living rooms, and the question: ‘why have you betrayed us?’

“I’ve kept myself a bit out of the media,” said Van Gass. “Yes, it’s sad to see what’s going on. Personally, I’m not disappointed and I don’t regret what happened to me in the personal matter. I had to go out and do my job.

“My thoughts go out to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice and I think I’ll just leave it there.”

Another Afghanistan veteran Stuart Robinson, representing ParalympicsGB in wheelchair rugby, offered a similar answer to the same question.

Robinson owes his Twitter handle, Legless Robbo, to an explosion he was involved in while serving with the RAF in 2013.

“I’ve had so many messages offering support if I need it from what I’ve seen on the news,” said Robinson, who suffered 36 separate injuries that fateful day.

“I’ve been focused on the job in hand. Some of the guys have had the need to speak to people and get support but for me, training gets you tunnel-visioned to perform and try to get the win. Ultimately, I was there to do a job.”

Jaco van Gass celebrates with his gold medal (PA Wire)

Words can’t do justice to the job that these men did, and the Paralympic movement offers the chance to do another – this time for the world to see.

Since his injury, Van Gass has become a first-class downhill skier, run marathons and trekked to the North Pole with a record-breaking team of wounded soldiers, accompanied by Prince Harry.

It means something, then, when he says the greatest achievement of his life was what he did in the C3 3,000m individual pursuit at the Izu Velodrome.

It wasn’t enough for him just to make the Games, he had to plan to break the longest-standing world record in para-cycling, set at high altitude in Mexico in 2014.

Van Gass watched Finlay Graham, 26, surpass the mark in the qualifying with an incredible 3min 19.78sec, then raised his team-mate to the tune of 3min 17.593sec and went on to win the final.

“At this very moment in time, this is right at the top. It’s the best thing I’ve done,” he said.

“It’s hard to really put that into perspective, I need it to sink in a little bit as well. I have done some amazing stuff and they all have their difficulties and today was very tough.

“I have actually needed to push the boundary further and further. Because of the lack of competition we had, I had no idea where the world was and whether they’d aim for something like a 3:25 and be happy with that.

“All the praise to little Finn. To be honest, the 3min 19sec was my aim and then he rode it, so I had to recalculate and go faster! He pushed me really hard in the final.”

It was another brilliant day for Britain in the velodrome, yielding four medals with Aileen McGlynn taking B 1,000m silver alongside Helen Scott.

It would need a world record to bring down Jody Cundy’s nine-year unbeaten record in the C4-5 kilo, and that’s what happened as he was denied gold by Spain’s Alfonso Cabello.

Cundy’s last loss came to the Spaniard at London 2012, when fate intervened and a malfunction on the starting blocks denied the Brit his golden chance.

This time he was foiled by Cabello’s brilliance alone in Tokyo, with the Spaniard setting a new world best in the C5 class of 1min 1.557sec.

“I’ve done a fabulous time and literally been beaten by the better person,” said Cundy, who did become the first Brit to win a medal at seven Paralympic Games.

“I can’t ask any more of myself, I’ve done everything I can to get where I am. It’s the best performance I’ve ever done, and sadly it wasn’t quite enough.”

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