Words matter. These are the best Lee Pearson Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
I couldn’t pedal a bike as a child, so I had a donkey instead. I loved the power and freedom it had.
I always say I’m one of the most normal abnormal people you’ll ever meet. I get embarrassed about how many medals I’ve won, and I get angry when people presume that because you’re gay you’ve got to wear pink and stilettos and camp it up, or that if you’re disabled you should act like a victim and not have a life.
I’ve stayed in the best hotels in the world, but you could put me in prison, and I’d still have fun.
I just love the development of horses, getting into their brains, making them more athletic and powerful, responsive, and I’m rubbish at everything else.
Before taking up dressage, I’d distanced myself from the Paralympics because I hadn’t wanted to be defined by my disability. Then when I grew up and got an office job, things started to change. I’m actually allergic to horses, but I’m even more allergic to paperwork!
I’ve got a quad bike, which I’ve raced against neighbours. You could give me a go-kart with a lawnmower engine – I’d still have fun. I like jet skis, speedboats, all the boys’ toys.
I had a donkey called Sally that I used to call my BMX bike. As a child, I wasn’t a very good horse rider: I thought falling off was normal, and I would just get back on again. I didn’t realise you weren’t meant to fall off.
When people chat to me about my childhood and getting into horses, they’re like, ‘Was it like the birds sang and the sun came out? Was it an amazing experience?’ I’m like, ‘No, it was rubbish. I was frightened. I was pretty unbalanced, and most ponies took advantage of me.’
I feel lucky that I found my talent, not unlucky that I was born with a disability. When I’m on a horse, I’m more worried about what the riding hat is doing to my hair than what my bent legs and arms are doing. What riding has given me is respect.
Paralympics has always had to push the media into it being about sport and not focusing on the disability.
When I pull my white Range Rover into disabled parking bays, the abuse that I get until I actually get out on my crutches is phenomenal, because people presume that you couldn’t possibly be disabled and reverse a white Range Rover into that parking space.
If you try singling me out to my mother, she’ll be down your throat. She has three sons, and she’s equally proud of us all.
I’m just a genetic freak, but it has never stopped me from doing whatever I want to.
I’m afraid to say I was Mr. Popular at school. I went out with all the girls in my year – I quite liked girls back then – and even dated ones in the year above.
I’m not really into the fame thing. I’ve met so many celebrities now, and everybody’s just the same. I’m a bit of a family bird.
I’m a gay disabled man who has become very successful. I don’t get up in the morning and think I’m inspirational; I just get up thinking that I love horses.
I joke that the Olympics is the warm-up to the Paralympics.
If you don’t like something, change it. My parents expected me to stay in my office job as an administrator at the Co-op because I’m disabled, but I said no and changed my whole life.
The Paralympic Games actually turned my whole mentality around about disability. When you’re in the Paralympic athletes’ village and there are 4,000 disabled people, you stop seeing disability. Totally.
