Rio 2016 was a success and for most of the athletes it was an impressive and lasting experience. For The Netherlands player Bo Kramer Rio was her first ever Paralympics and she was one of the youngest wheelchair basketball players who joined us there.
Born on the 15th September 1998, Bo Kramer is one of the young, talented players in wheelchair basketball, at the age of 18 she was one of the youngest players in Rio.
Following the Paralympic Games Bo said, “It was the best experience of my life and I will use it on every single game that I am going to play in the future!’
Bo started playing wheelchair basketball at the age of 14. She discovered wheelchair basketball a Paralympics talent day and liked it from the first moment she tried the sport. After being diagnosed with bone cancer in her right tibia, she had a bone replacement in her right leg, since then her leg has been weak. Bo underwent nine operations, which meant she was unable to run or jump anymore but she has never lost her joie de vivre. Bo is a fighter. So no wonder that her answer to the question “Who is you she hero/idol?” is:
“To be honest, I don’t have one. I will make my own hero.”
In Rio her and her teammates proved that they are one of the best wheelchair basketball nations in the world. The Netherlands women won bronze. This moment was one of the biggest and lasting memories for her at her first Paralympics.
Bo explains: “My lasting memory will be y first official score (basket) at the Paralympics. It was just a great feeling to achieve this. Also the moment we won our Bronze medal was pretty cool and unbelievable!”
But did she imagined the Paralympics would be that way? Bo said both – yes and no. Before the Paralympics she had heard a lot of different stories about them and also a lot about Rio. Most of them hadn’t been that positive, but she had found it pretty amazing to see the Olympics first on TV.
She said, “My expectations were pretty high. I imagined a lot, but nothing like it actually was. The first few days there were really impressive. It was just so big, nice, cool and a lot more! I will never forget our first training session in the Olympic arena. The arena where we played most of our games. It was so huge, and the fact that it was sold out several times made me quite scared. I had never played infant of so many people before, but it was the best time of my life so far!”
For the future Bo’s ambitions include to win a gold medal at the Paralympic Games and to also become one of the best players in the World. So hopefully we will hear a lot more about this young talented woman in the future.
