NEIL FACHIE hopes to stay safe in Paris after being mugged in Rio affected his Paralympics preparations.
Scotland’s visually impaired cyclist — and his riding wife Lora — will target golds in the velodrome over the course of 11 days of action in the French capital.
Yet at the Para-Track World Championships in Brazil in March, where he won the world kilo (1km), the pair and Lora’s pilot Corrine Hall were attacked on the way back to the team hotel.
Passports, credit cards, cash and world medals were taken.
Fachie said: “It was a ten-minute walk down a very well-lit main road, which was supposed to be secure.
“About 50 metres from the hotel there was a dark corner and a group of guys ran out and grabbed our stuff.
“They shook our bags off. We let them have them, rather than try to pick a fight. We had no idea if they were armed or not.
“It was particularly upsetting for Lora because she has no sight at all. She had no idea what was going on. We all got separated.
“She was left and didn’t know if we had been taken away. It was a bit scary.
“Our passports were in our bag, including our wee boy’s who wasn’t with us at the time fortunately. He was a few hundred metres down the road with Lora’s parents.
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“Physically we were OK. It affected Lora and Corrine’s racing that week. They didn’t race their main event, which was a real shame.”
Officials at British Cycling and the Rio embassy sorted emergency passports for their trip back to the UK.
Fachie added: “All three of us are going to make it to Paris safely.
“Hopefully no mugging in France! Brazil was a crucial part of getting to Paris. We needed to perform to get that qualification.
“But we’ve had a refresh after that. It had already been a challenging start to the year for me anyway with injury and illness.
“My performances at the worlds weren’t quite where I wanted to be. But since then training has been fantastic.
“That reset has all been about looking ahead to Paris. I’m going there in great shape and ready to perform.”
Fachie, who turned 40 in March, will be piloted by Matt Rotherham in the 1,000m B time trial and B individual pursuit.
He and Lora’s son is now 22 months old and, despite battles with British Cycling over childcare issues, the little one will be trackside as his parents compete for GB.
Aberdeen-born Fachie, who won the kilo title in Tokyo three years ago, does not know if this will be his last Paralympics experience.
He said: “I’ve not made a decision. I’m still enjoying my cycling, winning races. I’ll plan to carry on but four years is a long time.
“There’s other things I want to do, of course. But riding your bike at big events is special. There’s nothing like it.
“I don’t know how I can replace that with anything else. Other than taking drugs — which is not advisable from what I hear!”
Each sport is broken down into subcategories giving athletes the chance to compete on equal terms with those who have a similar impairment.
Here are the events:
