Emotions are heightened in the moments of biggest pressure and for Welsh athlete Hollie Arnold those come at the Paralympic Games.

But on the eve of her fifth appearance at the Paralympics, the 30-year-old has a secret weapon when she feels like the tension is starting to get to her.

A note from her 90-year-old grandad Norman will be Arnold’s inspiration in Paris as she looks to reclaim the F46 javelin title that she won in Rio eight years ago.

Arnold explained: “My grandad has written me a little note. We think alike a lot of the time and I was thinking that if I’m feeling the extra pressure, just a little something from my grandad would be great.

“He wrote me a note, I didn’t even ask him. He had written it, taken it out and taken a picture on his iPad – he’s 90! – so this is unreal. I read it and I was in tears. I’ve got it out here with me printed. When I’m feeling any kind of feelings and need to be cheered up, that’s what I read. He’s ridiculously cute!”

Arnold has won six straight world titles in addition to the Paralympic gold she won in Rio

While grandad Norman will not be able to make it across the Channel, there is a huge swathe of Arnold family and friends who will be coming over.

That is a far cry from Tokyo three years ago when Arnold came away with bronze in front of an empty stadium, a result from which she took a long time to recover.

At a global level, Arnold has been untouchable in more than a decade, winning six World Championship gold medals, including in Paris two years ago.

The most recent of those came back in Japan, winning gold in Kobe in May, where her boyfriend Josh Morgan was in the crowd. And returning to the country where she had suffered such heartache was a crucial step in getting over the disappointment.

She said: “It was really difficult not having anybody there in Tokyo. I had my partner out there, Josh, watching me in Kobe and seeing him in the crowd, just being back again and competing in a major was something for me, it was that lightbulb moment, we’re here, we’re ready and we’ve got such a busy year, and anything can happen.

“I’m so happy that Kobe happened. I really needed that; confidence is still one of those things that is on the day. Anything can happen, it doesn’t matter how hard you train, how far you have thrown, it’s on the day. If you can mentally tap into that, hopefully I can use my experience of going into my fifth Paralympic Games.

“You know what you need to do, you know you’re going to be feeling sick constantly, you know you’re going to be worried; you’re know you’re going to be feeling not good enough. But all of these things, I’m going to put in a box and we’re going to deal with them another day, they are not important. We’re going to go out there and have some fun and fingers crossed it goes how I would like it to.”

Having made her Paralympic debut at just 14, Arnold is still relatively young for an athlete heading to her fifth Games.

And while the focus for now is very much on regaining her Paralympic title in France, Arnold already has her sights set on a possible farewell tour in Los Angeles in four years’ time.

She added: “It’s so exciting having LA as the next Paralympics, I’m sure people would love to come out there and have a holiday and watch the Paralympics.

“Fingers crossed we can keep enticing them to support. I would of course love to do LA and bow out gracefully. If I’m still really competitive and my body still works, I would absolutely love to do that. Six Paralympics sounds pretty decent.”

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