Paralympic javelin gold medallist Hollie Arnold on her ultimate role model, controlling competition nerves and how athletics compares to I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

Glimpse into the lives of world-class athletes as they answer questions from YOU each week on ‘Ask the Athlete’.

This week AW is joined by reigning F46 javelin Paralympic champion, Hollie Arnold.

Arnold is also a four-time world para-athletics champion and won European and Commonwealth titles in 2018. She chats to AW about how she battled to become No.1 in her event plus, of course, her experience on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

Have a read of some of her answers below and then enjoy the full episode.

Who was your role model growing up when you were competing? 

The person who was major role model was Jessica Ennis-Hill. You know, she’s a fantastic person, she’s so strong, she didn’t get to go to Beijing because of her injuries and she just blew my mind when she came back. She’s an inspiration for everybody out there and especially for women. So yeah, definitely Jess. 

Were there ever times when people told you that your disability would hold you back from achieving your dream and did this just motivate you even more? 

So I remember a time at school and it was a career advisor who came around. He sat me down, asked me questions and he said, “What do you want to be when you get older?” I said, “I want to be a Paralympic athlete” and he kind of smirked a little bit and told me that it wasn’t a real job and I mentioned to him that it was as you can get paid to win medals and there’s funding involved. He wasn’t really supportive and didn’t understand that I wanted to be a Paralympic athlete.

I guess sitting here today is kind of proving him wrong as I am a Paralympic athlete and champion. It did motivate me that I wanted to prove him wrong. Of course, that wasn’t the reason I wanted to be a Paralympian but I wanted to prove him wrong. 

If you can’t reach your target you set yourself, how do you mentally overcome it? 

It’s always disappointing when you set yourself goals and you don’t achieve that. For me mentally, I’ve learnt, in the last few years of being an athlete, we have to set little goals. It doesn’t always have to be in athletics but it’s sometimes making sure you do the washing, if you’ve got the food the night before training prepared and answering emails because all of these little things have had an impact on me during my training. 

For me it was organisation and everything ran smoothly. We need little goals in our life because we can sometimes set the bar too high with expectation and we can’t live up to that. But it doesn’t mean that the dreams and high standards aren’t there. It’s just setting those little goals each time to get to the big goal and that’s how I mentally deal with it. 

How did going on I’m A Celeb mentally, emotionally and physically compare to athletics? 

I think it was very similar because there were always challenges for me. I went in there [I’m A Celeb] to show people around the world that just because I have a disability it doesn’t affect me and wouldn’t want it to. However, I could prepare for training but I couldn’t prepare for whatever challenge I was going to be doing. We didn’t have a preview of what you were to be doing, you just had to do it. 

I think I’m A Celeb was more mentally challenging at times because it was cold, we were living on 600 calories (a day) with no nutritional value and the tiredness was tough as you had no energy but you couldn’t sleep because it was so cold! I used my strengths and found out that I was a lot more resilient than I thought. It just invigorated me though and I just took those challenges on like I do in athletics. 

How do you overcome your nerves when it comes to competition day? 

So I’m a really nervous person! For me I try and plan things. So I try and listen to music a lot and I’ve got certain set songs for training and competition. Sometimes you can’t always plan things however as you can’t control the uncontrollable and I just do what makes me happy that eases the nerves. You know, you’re always nervous as there are exciting nerves and it’s good to have fire in your belly. So I know if I am nervous it means I want it, it means I’m passionate about it and I’ve sacrificed a lot to get wherever I am. Personally though, it’s music and just having really good vibes which energises me! 

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Next week Johnny Sexton will lead out Ireland for their 2021 Six Nations finale against England. It will be his 99th cap.

He knows you must rise to meet the sink-or-swim moments when the game is on the line; he did that at Murrayfield on Sunday just as he did in Paris three years ago.

He also knows that once the best teams get on top of their opponents, they stay there. And they certainly do not surrender 14-point leads.

"If you have a 14-point lead in international rugby, the next moment is the most important one," Sexton reflected.

"Top teams take the kick-off, clear their lines and then they put pressure on again. We're just short of that at the moment."

It is worth noting that Sexton's tone in post-match media activities was frustrated as opposed to melancholic. After all Ireland won, having been perilously close to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory they got the job done which, in a game where momentum is king, counts for a lot.

The frustration comes from the fact that Ireland ground out a win they never should have had to grind out.

Fears of Scotland replicating the suffocating, chest-thumping display that saw them conquer England at Twickenham had not come to pass. Ireland, while still not putting it all together, got themselves 24-10 up.

There is no doubt Scotland turned it up a gear after that, but Six Nations teams with the exception of Italy tend to offer some form of resistance during the 80 minutes.

It was as if Ireland had resigned themselves to a backs-against-the-wall finish without considering the possibility of seeing the game out with ease.

"With 10 minutes to go I didn't see the game unfolding like that but international rugby throws things at you that you don't expect sometimes," Sexton said.

"When we're 14 points up and concede that try it changes the game, we just need to be better there.

"We had that kick-off receive we didn't deal well with, we had a line-out we didn't deal well with, we missed a tackle that we should have done better, so as good a team as Scotland are, we have to look at ourselves first and foremost.

"We conceded points to Wales in a similar fashion, two tries after half-time which changed the game totally and similar to us not exiting well enough, missing a tackle, in international rugby you need teams to work incredibly hard."

O'Connell's triumphant return

While areas of Ireland's game still require monumental overhauls before they can be considered top class, there are some facets in which the giant leaps taken in the right direction were on full display in Edinburgh.

Their breakdown work is as accurate as it is ruthless, while their defensive line-out has grown into one of their greatest weapons in a remarkably short space of time.

Ireland came into this weekend's game with the most line-out steals in the competition - Scotland's staggeringly low 25% success rate on their own throw on Sunday will only have extended the Irish lead in that particular table.

The plaudits have gone the way of Paul O'Connell, whose return to the set-up has so far been a raging success.

His appointment before the tournament was met with tentative elation, could Ireland's legendary line-out operator transfer his skills to the coaching box? The answer has been emphatic.

"He's been top class, that why we brought him in," said head coach Andy Farrell.

"Paul would be the first person to acknowledge the work that [current defence coach and former forwards coach] Simon Easterby had done when he came in.

"He'll also be the first to say, regarding the defensive line-out, it's the ownership of the players that matters. They have drove that side of the line-out superbly well.

"As far as the defensive line-out is concerned James Ryan has really took control of that and stepped up, and that's what we want from the boys; taking ownership and leading."

If O'Connell's involvement has lived up to its billing, the same cannot be said for James Lowe.

The Leinster wing finally qualified through residency last autumn to great expectations. Here was a ferocious ball carrier, as quick as he was strong, seemingly primed to elevate Ireland's attack.

Not only has Lowe struggled to make the desired impact with the ball, but his defensive work has been put under the spotlight, which will now only shine brighter after his missed tackle on Huw Jones for Scotland's second try.

"We'll sit down with James and obviously there's others that we'll need to sit down with as well and keep educating them regarding what international rugby is all about," Farrell said.

"There are guys that are in there that are very young as far as international experience is concerned.

"As far as progressing James' game we'll help him like we'll help everyone else as well."

Next week Ireland will hope to win their third consecutive game for the first time under Farrell.

England, with their rediscovered mojo, will without question require Ireland to up their game from their Murrayfield display if they are to get the job done.

Sunday's showing was further proof that Ireland require many forward steps before they are once again considered a top team.

But they won, and an imperfect performance is far easier to stomach when you have four points in the bag.

A decision on when and where the next British and Irish Lions tour will take place is yet to be made, with Australia now crossed off the list.

Here is who took their chance, and who squandered them, as opportunities to impress the New Zealander in the Six Nations near their end.

English contingent redeem themselves

Gatland was in the Twickenham stands to see a revived England side finally click in victory against France.

A British and Irish Lions tour without some of the leaders in Eddie Jones' side was perhaps always unimaginable, but several England players showed their ability to stay in the fight when the odds are against them.

The hosts trailed going into the final five minutes until lock Maro Itoje - touted by many as the next Lions captain - crossed to turn things around.

Scrum-half Ben Youngs showed it is not all about youthful stars like opposite number Antoine Dupont and gave a performance that prompted ex-England great Matt Dawson to say he "looked like he'd been poked with a cattle prod".

Wing Anthony Watson stole the show with a a man-of-the-match performance on his 50th England appearance, scoring a try and making the most clean breaks of any home player with three.

Number eight Billy Vunipola looked to finally be playing his way back into form and brother Mako impressed in the front row too.

Centre Henry Slade kept up the rampaging efforts in midfield we have seen all tournament and fly-half George Ford was cool under pressure as England showed they are capable of more than just a solid set-piece.

Sexton wins head-to-head with Russell

The true battle of the 10s was to be found further north.

Irish veteran of two tours Johnny Sexton was up against Scotland's Finn Russell, who toured with the Lions in 2017 but did not earn a Test cap.

Former Scotland captain and BBC pundit John Barclay discussed the players "very different styles" before the match but early on Sexton showed he has more than a few tricks in his box.

The 35-year-old sent a cross-field kick which was missed by Keith Earls but eventually tapped down by Robbie Henshaw for Ireland's opening score.

Russell, combining with the equally exciting Stuart Hogg, showed the kind of instinctive play he has become famed for as he chased the full-back's kick to add his name to the scoresheet too.

But Russell missed a penalty kick and Sexton did not, extending Ireland's lead, with Hogg eventually taking over kicking duties after Scotland's fly-half went off for a head injury assessment.

Sexton continued to display the composure that has seen him earn 98 caps for his country, slotting a tricky penalty from far left to regain Ireland's lead in the 76th minute.

Owens stakes claim on starting spot

England hooker Jamie George was one of several players Gatland named as "certainties" for his squad in November 2019.

But the 2017 tourist did not exactly get a chance to shine as he started on the bench for the second time this Championship and only replaced Luke Cowan-Dickie in the final 10 minutes at Twickenham.

The most impressive performance by a hooker in round four was perhaps to be found over in Rome, where Wales' Ken Owens scored two tries.

Owens, who was on the bench for all three Lions Tests in 2017 as George started, made nine carries in the 53 minutes he played against Italy.

He even added 11m kicked to his total of 37m made with an attempt at a chip over the top on the left wing - an amusing highlight in a standout performance.

More nimble was Tadhg Furlong's side-stepping against Scotland, with the 19st prop looking light as a feather as he danced out of two Scottish tackles - one of which was from fly-half Russell.

But the final word must go to Wales man of the match Josh Navidi, whose gritty performance drew praise from Carol Vorderman on Twitter. The countdown to Gatland's squad announcement is well and truly on.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jose Gonzalez started Sunday by making the quickest run in E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series history and ended his day with a victory, beating Justin Bond in the final round of the opening race of the season at Gainesville Raceway.

The race, which was presented by Jerry Bickel Race Cars and FTI Performance, is the first of 12 events during the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service season, and Gonzalez rolled to his third career win.

He went 5.720 seconds at 254.33 mph in his ProCharger-powered Q80 Racing/EGR Racing Camaro to beat Bond in the final round as Bond, who was the No. 1 qualifier, slowed to an 8.341 seconds at 112.00 mph.

After qualifying third, Gonzalez eclipsed the record Bond set Saturday night, going an incredible 5.621 seconds at 254.62 mph to win in the first round of eliminations against Jerico Balduf and make the quickest run in class history. He followed with round wins against Clint Satterfield and Khalid Al-Balooshi to reach the final round for the sixth time in his career, meeting Bond for the first time in eliminations.

“The car actually feels like I’ve been in it for almost a year driving it,” said Gonzalez, who didn’t race in 2020. “I was actually a bit scared with all the new rules that we have to shift, and I had never shifted (in) this car before. I’m just happy where we are being able to go to the finals (and) win at the very first race.”

Bond, who went a whopping 5.638 seconds at 253.80 mph to qualify No. 1 for the first time in his ProCharger-powered JBS/Bahrain 1 Racing Camaro, beat Jim Whiteley, Jeffrey Barker and Jonathan Gray to reach his third career final round.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Rookie Josh Hart shocked the Top Fuel field Sunday during the season-opening 52nd annual AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway by racing to his first victory in his NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series debut.

J.R. Todd (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won in their respective categories at the first race of the season.

Hart, an Ocala, Fla., native, became the first driver to win in their first NHRA start since the late Darrell Russell did it 20 years ago to open the 2001 season, going 3.826 seconds at 323.66 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Burnyzz/Technet dragster to beat Shawn Langdon in the final round.

Hart reached the final round thanks to victories against Clay Millican, three-time defending Top Fuel champ Steve Torrence and Justin Ashley, staying in the low 3.80s in the second and third rounds. He was spectacular on the starting line in the final round and cruised to the historic win at his home track to become the 110th driver to win in Top Fuel.

“Never in a million years would I have thought this was going to happen,” Hart said. “I’ve wanted to do this for a really long time and to do it in Top Fuel is just amazing. (Crew chief) Ron Douglas gave me an amazing car and the guys have worked their butts off. It’s just amazing. That thing was a monster going down the track.”

Langdon’s 35th career final round included round wins against Doug Foley, Leah Pruett and Antron Brown.

In a wild Funny Car final round against Robert Hight, Todd earned his first win in nearly two years by running a 5.184-second pass at 286.38 mph in his 11,000-horsepower DHL Toyota Camry.

Both Todd and Hight smoked the tires early in the run, but Todd pedaled, recovered and went right down the track after that to win in Gainesville for the first time in his career and get his 19th career win.

The Kalitta Motorsports driver beat Blake Alexander, Tim Wilkerson and Cruz Pedregon to reach the final round. His victory also snapped the 14-race Funny Car win streak for Don Schumacher Racing, giving the Kalitta team a strong start to 2021.

“It’s amazing to be among the legends who have won this race,” Todd said. “This is Don Garlits country down here in Gainesville. First off, I have to thank the legend Connie Kalitta for the opportunity to earn one of these trophies. Today was tough. No offense to all the other drivers out there, but in my opinion, Robert Hight is the best driver out here. That team sets the benchmark for the rest of us. Our DHL Toyota Camry went out there and blew the tires off and I thought, ‘Oh man, here we go.’ I just kind of rolled into the throttle, he never came by us and here we are holding another (Wally).”

Hight, making his first start in more than a year, ended up in his 81st career final round thanks to wins against Bob Bode, teammate John Force and Bob Tasca III.

Celebrating his 60th birthday, Pro Stock legend Anderson picked up the ideal present, winning for the 95th time in the class by going 6.602 seconds at 209.33 mph in his Race Star Wheels Chevrolet Camaro to beat Troy Coughlin Jr. in the final round.

Anderson took out Cristian Cuadra, Alex Laughlin and Deric Kramer to reach the final round for the 159th time in his career. After going winless in 2020, Anderson, a four-time Pro Stock champ, was thrilled to pick up the victory against Coughlin. It also gave Anderson his fifth career victory at the Gatornationals.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve held one of those trophies, and I’ve said it a million times in my career, you always wonder if you’ll be able to do it again,” Anderson said. “I guess you’re not human if you don’t have doubts, and it’s a shame to have those thoughts, but I think it’s good in a way because it drives you to work harder every day. You just want to have that feeling again so bad. To finally get back to the winner’s circle a year and a half later, and to do it on my birthday, well that makes this a win that I’ll never forget.”

Coughlin, beginning his second year in Pro Stock, beat Aaron Stanfield, Fernando Cuadra Jr. and Mason McGaha to reach his second career final round.

It was an outstanding start to a title defense season for Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Smith, as he made multiple runs of 200 mph or faster on his Denso Auto Parts/Stockseth/Matt Smith Racing EBR, including the final round when he went 6.785 seconds at 200.65 mph to beat Ryan Oehler. It was Smith’s quickest run of the weekend and he topped 200 mph on every run in eliminations to win in Gainesville for a second straight year.

He knocked off Jim Underdahl, Hector Arana Jr. and Steve Johnson to reach the final round, rolling to his 27th career win.

“I just have to go up there and race my lane,” said Smith, a four-time Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion. “This bike was on mean this weekend. We weren’t able to quite get the E.T. we needed, but this bike was running the speed.”

Oehler advanced to his third career final round thanks to round wins against Jerry Savoie, Karen Stoffer and Scotty Pollacheck.

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Martin Truex Jr. became the fifth different winner in as many NASCAR Cup Series races this year with a victory in the Instacart 500 Sunday afternoon at Phoenix Raceway.

Truex proved to have the best car during the second half of the race, but he had to overcome Joey Logano during a restart with 25 laps left before he could celebrate in victory lane.

“This has been a tough track for us,” Truex said. “We struggled here in the fall. We came here with a whole new mindset, a whole new focus on trying to figure this place out and I’ll be damned if we didn’t do it. Hopefully we can keep tuning on this thing and come back for the Final Four in November.”

The veteran driver and 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion was the race leader when the caution flag waved for an incident involving Tyler Reddick with 51 laps left. Most of the field hit pit road, but a slow stop dropped Truex behind Logano and Brad Keselowski while Bubba Wallace inherited the lead after not pitting.

The restart saw Keselowski dive below Wallace to take the lead, only for Logano to quickly chase down and pass his teammate to take the lead while Truex worked his way back towards the front.

Truex had moved up to second when the final caution flag of the day waved on lap 281 when Kyle Busch spun off the nose of Ross Chastain. Logano opted to restart on the bottom in order to cut the frontstretch dog leg while Truex stuck to the top for the restart.

Logano immediately turned left when the green flag waved so he could cut the dog leg, but Truex managed to hang alongside Logano as they raced into turn one. With his tires in the traction compound on the top of turns one and two, Truex was able to drive around Logano to take the lead at the exit of turn two.

“I just got a good jump and was able to stay side-by-side with him, that was really the key,” Truex said. “Then he drove into one and kind of slid up and slid us both up the hill. Once that happened I was able to grab the PJ1 (traction compound) and get turned and get a good run off.”

Truex promptly turned on the afterburners and drove away from Logano. With no caution flags to slow the action, Truex cruised to his 28th NASCAR Cup Series victory, first of the season and first at Phoenix Raceway, where the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion will be crowned in November.

The victory on Sunday for Truex came despite some minor damage after he bounced off the wall early in the race.

“Just an awesome job by everybody, James (Small, crew chief), Blake (Harris, car chief) and all the pit crew guys fixing it. I mean really solid. I thought at the beginning of the race we were gonna run 15th or so,” Truex said after his first victory in nearly a year. “I can’t really believe it, I’m kind of speechless. This feels pretty amazing, you know? Phoenix has been a tough one for us and to come here and win this, I wish it was November, but hopefully we can come back here in November and have a shot at being in the Final Four.”

Logano settled for second and admitted he was shocked that Truex was able to stay alongside him entering turn one on the final restart. Despite that, he acknowledged it would have been tough to hold Truex off.

“I chose the bottom every time I’ve been the leader and it’s worked every single time,” said Logano, who won stage two. “I was batting 1,000 on the bottom the last two years here. I was kind of actually surprised that Truex was still out there. I felt like I created enough distance down there on the bottom shortcutting the dog leg.

“His car really accelerated really well, surprisingly well. I didn’t see that one coming. He just had a fast car,” Logano continued. “To be honest with you, I’m not sure even if we got in front of him on that last restart, I’m not sure I would have been able to hold him off or not.”

Denny Hamlin finished third, followed by Keselowski and reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott.

Ryan Blaney finished 10th after winning the opening stage of the race.

For complete results, advance to the next page.

OPP, Ala. – Midwestern late model ace Ty Majeski became the only four-time winner of the Rattler 250 at South Alabama Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Majeski’s fourth victory snapped a tie with Ronnie Sanders and makes Majeski the winningest driver in the 45-year history of the race.

Majeski dominated the 250-lap affair that opened the Southern Super Series season, leading all but the first 15 laps to score the victory. However, he had to hold off a determine Stephen Nasse during a series of late-race restarts.

Three caution periods slowed the race in the final 10 laps, including the last one with five laps left, but each time Majeski held the top spot during each restart and drove away from Nasse to pick up the victory.

Nasse settled for second after fending off Daniel Dye during the last restart. Dye took third, followed by Northeastern invader Derek Griffith and Kyle Plott.

The finish:

Ty Majeski, Stephen Nasse, Daniel Dye, Derek Griffith, Kyle Plott, Kyle McCallum, Jake Garcia, Bubba Pollard, Carson Hocevar, Jett Noland, Grant Enfinger, Nick Neri, Dusty Williams, Augie Grill, Michael Hinde, Sammy Smith, Hunter Robbins, Colin Garrett, Kyle Bryant, Tyler Roahrig, Austin Nason, Johnny Brazier, Connor Okrzesik, Steve Dorer, Anthony Sergi, Michael House, Hudson Halder, Jake Finch, John DeAngelis, Willie Allen, Brian Campbell, Jeremy Pate, Casey Roderick.

The SMART Modified Tour is BACK and the series put on a show to remember Sunday at Caraway Speedway as Matt Hirschman and Burt Myers battled for the win in the final five laps! Miss the race? Head to SPEEDSPORT.TV now to watch it on demand!