First female rugby player to compete for GB at the Paralympics

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In Beijing in 2008, Pearson created her own piece of history by becoming the first woman rugby player to compete for Britain at the Paralympic Games.

Horse-riding was her first passion but in 2003 she broke her neck in a car accident. Yet she was determined not to give up on sport. The year after the accident she saw the Paralympic Games in Athens on television and she began dreaming of competing at them.

She had won a place at Cardiff University where she was studying neuroscience, yet after 12 months she left to concentrate on her sporting career. She has become an accomplished wheelchair athlete in the 100m, 200m and 400m.

Canada and China are the only other countries where female players are in the same team as men, and in Beijing the British team were beaten 47-41 in the bronze medal match.

Her ultimate goal is gold at the Paralympics in London and last year she helped launch the nationwide talent search - Talent 2012: Paralympic Potential. Her contribution to the sport saw her named as Asda Hereford's Athlete of the Year for 2011.