Stuart Robinson, a former commander in Britain’s RAF, describes in vivid detail the February morning 11 years ago when the Taliban bombed his military vehicle in Afghanistan, throwing him 30 feet into the air and shattering both his legs.
The shrill alert in the vehicle suggesting its electronic bomb-detection equipment, as vital as his own, might be faulty. The red brake lights of the vehicle ahead, visible through the desert dust at dawn as Robinson ordered the convoy to stop. Resting his head on the seatback during the momentary wait for the equipment to be checked. And then, nothing, until he awoke from an eight-week induced coma in a Birmingham hospital, his jaws wired shut and his shoulders fractured.
You might think these are reasons for regret, even bitterness, given the US military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, which left the country at the mercy of the Taliban. “It was around the time of the last Paralympics,” he says of that withdrawal. “You saw all the media coverage of the Taliban returning to Kabul. It makes you wonder: How much was all that hard work and lost life worth?”
Robinson never really looked back. “Yes, you have to deal with physical injuries and learn to walk again,” he says. “But for me, the mental part… no. You just get on with your life.”
The new life took him to a time and place unforgettable for all who were there, at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, when the Great Britain wheelchair rugby team he is part of beat the mighty United States to win Olympic gold in the sport called ‘Murderball’. A European nation had never won it before.
Stuart Robinson is a former British RAF commander and will represent his nation at the Paralympics.
Great Britain became the first European nation to win the wheelchair rugby event in Tokyo
Sport has become such a fundamental part of his world that when a revolutionary operation that would have helped Robinson to walk and not have to sit in a wheelchair was made available to 20 British servicemen, he put the opportunity on hold to ensure he could compete in Tokyo and the world championships. Funding for that operation, under the UK government’s LIBOR scheme, has now run out.
“I was happy with the decision to be in a wheelchair full-time,” says Robinson. “Not just to play rugby, but because I can go further and get less tired than when I have prosthetic legs. I like being at the same height, but the pain of being at that height is greater.”
The pivotal role he plays in his adopted sport is what drove the 42-year-old’s decision. Robinson is what is known in wheelchair rugby as a “high pointer” – a player with a high level of ball-handling skill, despite being confined to a wheelchair. His job will be to score many of the points for the British team, with hosts France, Japan, the United States and world number one team Australia (Britain’s first opponent on Thursday) the other contenders for gold.
The fact that the Great Britain team remains a world power is a minor miracle, given that GB wheelchair rugby’s £3m funding was cut entirely in 2016. They won in Tokyo despite that blow, with the help of the Royal Air Force Charitable Trust, of which Robinson is an ambassador, which has stepped in to help him and others. The Trust has funded the sports wheelchair Robinson used in Tokyo and a new one he will use in Paris. It has also provided adaptations to Robinson’s family home.
Victory in Tokyo provided them with funding, but the stark reality is that other nations have improved their form over the past three years. France, who have beaten Great Britain in the last two Euro finals, are also in their group and will be serious opponents with the support of their supporters.
“The gap between the competing nations is much smaller,” Robinson says. “Whoever wins a series of five competitive games will win a gold medal. France on home soil, Denmark, Canada, the United States, Germany, us – we’re all capable of doing it. It’s just a question of who gets it right on the day.”
As host nation, France has been allowed to choose which group it will be drawn into and has chosen Great Britain, with the pair due to face off on Saturday night.
“It’s going to be a packed crowd and an amazing experience,” Robinson says. “We’ve already talked about calming the crowd. The last time we played them, we destroyed them in five or ten minutes in a game in Canada, so they’re going to want revenge on us.”
Seven of Robinson’s 12-man Great Britain squad from Tokyo remain for their defence at Paris 2024
“They have something to prove. I think we were running out of ideas against them, but in that game, we kept changing our lineup and didn’t give them time to settle in and get into their game and figure out how to fight us.”
Of the 12 Great Britain squad members who arrived in Tokyo, seven are still in the team, with five being debutants. It will be difficult to fill the shoes of Jim Roberts and former captain Chris Ryan.
Robinson doesn’t deny that elements of that fateful morning in the Afghan desert will always puzzle him. His driver twisted his ankle. On the squad’s third morning he lost a tooth. “I’ve spoken to the guys I was on patrol with, I’ve got copies of all the patrol reports and there’s not one single thing that helps me remember,” he says. “But that’s history now. We’ve got an Olympic title to defend.”
The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund is the RAF’s principal charity. Its aim is to assist current and former members of the RAF, their partners and families, whenever necessary. For more information, please visit: www.rafbf.org