Paralympic athlete has his £5k custom-built racing wheelchair hours after he heard he had qualified for the Rio Games
His van was broken into overnight and the precious racing wheelchair stolen
A TEAM GB Paralympian is bereft after a custom-built racing wheelchair was stolen from outside his home.
John Smith had only just heard that he would be part of the British team going for glory at Rio's Paralympic Games in two-and-a-half months.
Hours later the 26-year-old woke this morning to find the £5,000 aluminium-framed chair missing from his van outside his home in West Kingsdown, Kent.
He will race for Team GB in the T54 marathon event in August.
He said: "It is unbelievable. The chair is extremely valuable to me but useless to anyone else. It's precision-made to fit me.
"It weighs 5kg and is probably worth £20 in scrap. I'm just hoping somebody has played a joke.
"I'd have rather they left the chair and took the van."
Police are investigating the theft, which took place between 8pm on Tuesday and 8am this morning.
John was paralysed when he was 16, when he was shot in the spine by poachers who mistook him and his friends for game animals as they walked through fields.
The former boxer has spent the last ten years training and building his fitness, and is now one of the world's best wheelchair racers.
In a bid to find the chair and the person who took it, John, also known as John Boy, used social media to spread the word.
He wrote: "I woke up this morning to find that my racing chair has been stolen from my van outside my home
"I really hope someone is playing a joke on me, if not then i really need help getting this chair back.
"I have the Paralympic Games in two-and-a-half months and don't need this right now. If this post reaches the person who took it I am willing to pay for its return."
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