If Dan Pembroke isnโ€™t at the track, you will probably find him at his allotment.

It is where the first seed of an idea grew into something far greater; an initial enjoyment of growing hops and dabbling with home brew kits has bloomed into an actual beer with his name on the can.

In the lead-up to last yearโ€™s Paralympics, Pembroke started brewing โ€˜Paris Goldโ€™, as a physical representation of what he wanted and ultimately would go on to achieve in the French capital.

Now Pembroke โ€“ a two-time Paralympic and world champion in the F13 javelin, for athletes with a visual impairment โ€“ has a new brew in the works that he hopes can have the same effect for his compatriots heading to the colder climates of the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympics in Italy.

โ€œTwo months before going to Paris, my new coach, John Trower, was talking about visualisation and manifestation, these things that he deemed very powerful in sport,โ€ Pembroke told BBC Sport.

โ€œIโ€™d never really dabbled with visualisation, so I thought, what way could I make this unique to myself? How could I manifest what I want out in Paris?

โ€œI want to get the gold medal, I want it to be in Paris, and I want to hold up a beer to celebrate what Iโ€™ve done.โ€

After his success in Paris, Pembrokeโ€™s home brewing caught the attention of a craft brewery, which has worked with the 34-year-old to produce it on a commercial scale.

His new Milan beer will be an Italian pilsner using West Coast hops, as a nod to the next summer Games in Los Angeles.

With plans for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions, he hopes to send batches to Italy for British athletes to enjoy after the Winter Games.

โ€œIโ€™m getting it out there and putting the message across about manifestation for them,โ€ Pembroke said.

โ€œItโ€™s quite a wacky way to do it with beer and athletes, itโ€™s not something that normally goes together, but I think because of that it makes it stand out a little bit. And youโ€™ve got to rock the boat a little bit sometimes to get eyes on you.โ€

Dan Pembroke throwing a javelin at the 2022 UK Championships
Image caption,Dan Pembroke launches a javelin at the 2022 UK Championships

Because for Pembroke โ€“ who has only 10% vision having been diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition, retinitis pigmentosa, when he was six โ€“ itโ€™s not just about beer.

โ€œThis is about me talking in front of crowds of people in conferences, in hospitality, about accessibility for people with invisible disabilities like myself,โ€ he said.

โ€œI go into a restaurant or a bar and I often get asked โ€˜do you have any dietary requirements?โ€™. But never have I been asked โ€˜do you have any accessibility requirements?โ€™.

โ€œOften I canโ€™t be accommodated for. I want to change that space for invisible disabilities, and in particular, visual impairments.โ€

Earlier in his athletics career, Pembroke was targeting the London 2012 Olympics before an elbow injury put paid to that dream.

After a seven-year break and with his eyesight deteriorating, he came to Para-sport in 2019. Within two years he was Paralympic champion, throwing a Paralympic record of 69.52m in Tokyo.

In Paris he reached new heights, breaking Uzbekistanโ€™s Aleksandr Svechnikovโ€™s seven-year world record with his third throw, before bettering that mark by more than three metres on his next effort with 74.49m to successfully defend his Paralympic crown.

A year on from that golden achievement, Pembrokeโ€™s next task is defending the global title he won in both 2023 and 2024 at the Para-athletics World Championships in New Delhi, which get under way on Saturday.

As part of aย 37-strong British contingent,ย externalย headed for India, he goes into the championships with โ€œmy hunger backโ€, having struggled with the comedown from his Paralympic high.

โ€œParis was the pinnacle of my career so far,โ€ he said. โ€œItโ€™s weird to adjust coming back down the other side, because you need to reset your goals and your ambitions of where you want to go in the future.

โ€œThose four months after Paris were very odd and strange for me. I was having ups and downs, but a big roller coaster of emotions, trying to adjust to what Iโ€™d done and where Iโ€™m going next.

โ€œIt wasnโ€™t all sunshine and rainbows, it was pretty difficult.โ€

Sunshine is now on the horizon, however โ€“ Pembroke and his wife, Martina, will welcome their first baby in November.

The prospect of having his child trackside at the LA Paralympics in three yearsโ€™ time is providing added motivation for Pembroke to continue his work both in and out of athletics.

โ€œIโ€™m not getting any younger, and I want to make the most of how my bodyโ€™s feeling at the moment,โ€ he said.

โ€œI think I have the potential to break the [world] record and go more than 75m. Leading up to LA, thatโ€™s what I wanted to achieve.

โ€œBut when I do finally retire, and Iโ€™m not sure when that is yet, I want to have a wholesome feeling that Iโ€™ve done something good, not just from throwing javelins far, but I want to try and change the space in society that deals with visual impairment.โ€


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