It was the phone call that Faye Rogers never wanted to make.
She was just about to join renowned swimming coach, Patrick Miley – the father of north-east Commonwealth and world champion, Hannah – for an exciting new chapter in her life in Aberdeen. But then, she was involved in a very serious driving accident.
Having suffered several open fractures, a dislocated elbow and a severed ulna nerve, doctors declared that the teenager’s swimming career was over.
So you can imagine her mood when she rang Patrick to tell him the news.
‘It’s okay, we’ve got this’
“He listened to me and heard how I wasn’t going to make it to training for a while,” she recalled.
“But he was so supportive, this man who was almost a complete stranger at the time. He said to me: ‘You will swim again, we’re okay, we’ve got this’.
And that was the first step to Faye’s triumphant march to becoming a Paralympic champion in Paris last month, despite everything that had stood in her way.
It was understandable therefore that when we met at Aberdeen Sports Village on an autumnal afternoon, just a few weeks after her success, the 21-year-old biochemistry student had the joyful expression of somebody in a fairy tale.
And the occasion was even more poignant when she met up with Patrick for the first time since she had entertained dreams of pursuing a medal at the Paralympics.
This was a true golden moment
The pair skipped off to share a moment together and it was one of those heartfelt times where everything seemed a letter better and brighter in an often miserable world.
Faye had her gold medal with her; a prized artefact which she hugged as closely as Indiana Jones embraced the Holy Grail. And the smile on her face was infectious.
The bond between these individuals was established long before they met. As Faye related, it was forged when, at the age of nine, she lapped up the London Olympics.
“I grew up watching Hannah on the TV and I remember the Games in 2012, sitting on the floor in my living room, watching it with my little brother, and feeling happy.
I was like ‘Wow, this is wonderful’
“I recall Hannah doing an interview and her passion and enthusiasm shone through. She was honestly one of the biggest inspirations for me when I was growing up.
“At about 15, I did a competition in Edinburgh and she was in my heat. For weeks I was thinking: ‘Wow, Hannah Miley is in the same race as me, how cool is that?’
“So I’ve looked up to her for an awful long time.
“It’s kind of ironic that I’m working with Patrick now. I met him at the Olympic trials in 2021 and, immediately, we just seemed to click.
“He watched me swim and though it was a difficult time, with us in the middle of Covid, I thought to myself: ‘This is somebody I want to work with’.
Everything changed for a while
“It does seem strange now that the accident happened the very day before I was due to go up to Scotland to join with him. Then, I had to make that phone call.
“But he started sending me stories of other athletes who had suffered injuries or been involved in accidents, and yet managed to make a return to sport.
“Honestly, that got me through that period, because swimming was my whole world at that point and I was being told I might have to stop. But not by Patrick.
“He kept me grounded, convinced me there was a future, and I’ll never forget it.”
Faye and Patrick decided to make the switch to Para swimming. They soon sorted out a classification – in the S10 100m butterfly – and the results have been extraordinary.
Yet while she had demonstrated ample signs of her talent before embarking on her quest in Paris, talk was cheap. The only place which mattered was the pool.
I wanted to join in the medal rush
She said: “Every time I look at my medal, I get really excited, but at first, the biggest feeling was being relieved and everything that happened in France was almost a blur.
“When you’ve worked so hard for so long and been so focused on one thing – when you finally do it and it’s over and it’s done, you just have an overwhelming sense of relief.
“Team GB did an amazing job, we were leading the medal table for a lot of the competition and ended up being second [behind China]. And the spirit and commitment and camaraderie among everybody was the best it could have been.
“My room mate, Poppy Maskill, was bringing home medals, right left and centre, so watching her really fired me up and I thought: ‘I want one of these’.
I still look at it and feel proud
“Looking back now, the Paralympics was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.
“Everybody was so supportive, the staff were amazing, the crowds, the buzz among everybody. You don’t realise it at the time, but the memories will live on forever.”
There’s still plenty of time for Faye to pursue further honours in the next decade.
She finishes her Aberdeen University course next year. She is immensely grateful for their flexibility and encouragement and she eventually hopes to become a doctor.
But before that, there’s the little matter of the World Championships in Singapore next year, as the prelude to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2026.
It’s already on Faye’s radar
As somebody born in Stockton-in-Tees who is now resident in Aberdeen, you might imagine that Faye might have split loyalties about which country she’ll link up with.
If so, you would be mistaken. And it didn’t take her long to make up her mind.
She told me: “I’m from the north-east of England, but I’ll be representing Scotland. Half my family’s Scottish, so I have a choice, but it’s an easy one.
“I’m based here in Scotland, the support I’ve received from the Scottish Institute of Sport and Scottish Swimming, everyone up here, has been fantastic.
It will be great at a home Games
“Aberdeen University have also been brilliant and allowed me to combine a degree with competing full time and nothing has been too much for them.
“I’ve always struggled asking for help, but they’ve made me feel comfortable enough to ask for it and that’s huge.
“Because, without their help, there’s no way I could have continued to study full time and gone to the Paralympics in the same year.
“So yeah, I’ll be representing Scotland at the Games in Glasgow.”
And, no doubt, going the extra mile with Miley to bring us a fresh reason to cheer.
Conversation