Paralympic medallist Didi Okoh is determined to cap her transition from track to field with a Commonwealth Games medal to honour the coach who ensured she didn’t quit.
The 23-year-old won bronze in the 100m T63 event at Paris 2024 but made the decision to compete in discus in January with the aim of representing Team England in Glasgow this summer.
Success at the Commonwealth Games would represent the third global medal of her career, but it was not long ago Okoh was doubting whether she would continue in sport.
The Birmingham-based athlete has lymphedema, causing excessive swelling in her leg, and found coaches reluctant to take her on until one individual changed that trajectory.
“For me, it’s so important that I complete that entire journey of doing the discus for my old throws coach Shirley Quinn. She’s the reason I stayed in sport,” said Okoh.
“When I was 16, my athletics group at my local club didn’t want to coach me due to my impairment, but she took me on and taught me how to throw.
“In that period I was so mentally distraught at being told that I can’t do this anymore by people I thought I could trust. She had to re-establish trust within myself and with me to her.
“Without her, I wouldn’t have even thought that I was capable of throwing, but she gave me that confidence that I could throw and do whatever I put my mind to.
“She’s in her seventies now, and I’m so grateful to have had that figure in my life. To be able to compete and bring back a medal to show her would just be amazing.”
Having started out at Chelmsford AC under Quinn, Okoh has since moved clubs to represent Birchfield Harriers while studying law and criminology at the University of Birmingham.
Competing in the 100m, she has not only won bronze at the Paralympics but added to it with another bronze at the World Para Athletics Championships 2025 in New Delhi.
But after being spotted by England coaches she made the decision in January to try and meet Commonwealth Games qualifying standard by March 31st of the same year.
“I gave myself here months to get selected. It’s an incredibly hard thing to switch your skill set into a completely different event,” she said.
“The mental struggle, the physical struggle, even just the sense of going into competition. I know my layout for the 100m, but discus is completely different, you’re out there for an hour with your other competitors.
“On the outside, the transition into discus looks like, ‘Oh Didi just got up and lobbed a discus and got selected.’ That’s not what happened.
“It took right until the last competition to get it completely right, so I’m grateful to be there.”
And having already tasted global success, Okoh is certainly not just heading to Glasgow to make up numbers on Team England.
On the route to Glasgow 2026, the King’s Baton Relay also made a stop at the Alexander Stadium, where Okoh was speaking at SportsAid Live, with Team England’s official automotive partner Geely playing a central role in England’s leg.
And despite only entering the throwing circle in earnest at the start of the year, she is unequivocal about her aims this summer.
“I want to be the best on that world stage. There is no way I go into a champ not thinking about a medal,” said Okoh.
“Despite the lack of training I’ve had around it, I do believe that I can push forward and get another global medal which will be so amazing.”
Commonwealth Games England has appointed SportsAid to lead the delivery of Team England Futures for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games. Building on the success of the programme at Birmingham 2022, Team England Futures will provide athletes, coaches and support staff with valuable insight and experience of a major multi-sport Games environment, helping them prepare for future Commonwealth, Olympic and Paralympic opportunities.
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