36 August 26, 2012 • SUNDAY MAIL
Sport EX-SOLDIER DEREK DERENALAGI WAS ONCE DECLARED DEAD BUT REVEALS HOW HE DEFIED THE ODDS
Move over you plastic Brits, here comes the ‘Titanium Brit’ By Matt Majendie
IN BRIEF
THERE are still times that Derek Derenalagi wakes up in the dead of night at his home in Watford, England having had flashbacks to Afghanistan. Where once those flashbacks had been nightly, now they are more of a rarity but they are never any less vivid and each time his wife, Ana, has to calm down her agitated husband from the vividness of his dream. The moment his mind goes back to each time is July 19 2007 and he is walking behind an armoured vehicle at 6.30 in the morning to clear a helicopter landing site. Unbeknown to Derenalagi, 37, and his unit, the area in question was littered with landmines and, as he got the vehicle to reverse, it went over one and blew him 50 metres into the air. Amazingly, he stayed conscious throughout the ensuing trauma. “I was up in the air immediately and, when I landed I didn’t immediately know I’d lost both my legs but I could hear a lot of people screaming and shouting,” he said. “I tried to stand up but I couldn’t. My whole body felt numb. I looked down to see that my left leg had totally gone, while the other leg was just flesh and bones hanging off below the kneecap, and I had a lot of other injuries. “I was lying in a pool of blood and struggling to breath. My mind was overwhelmed with fear. I thought I wouldn’t see my wife and daughter again so I said a prayer. I said, ‘Dear Lord Jesus Christ, if you’re willing to
use my life to motivate others please give me life again’. “I decided then that I would make it and then the guys in my unit grabbed me by the arms and lifted me away and took me back to Camp Bastion. “They just kept on saying, ‘Derek, you’re going to be okay’, and when I asked about my legs, I was told, ‘They’re going to be fine’ but there were a few people standing beside me crying then.” Back at camp, a nurse repeatedly told him to be strong, which is the last thing he remembers. Shortly afterwards he passed out and was pronounced dead on the operating table.
BODY BAG It was only as he was being placed in a body bag by one of the medical staff that the slightest pulse was detected and the medical staff began to work on him again. Nine days later, he woke up from his coma at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham with Ana by his side. “My immediate thought was, ‘What are you doing in Afghanistan? It’s dangerous, it’s a war zone’.” She reminded him of the explosion and, not longer afterwards, when he said he wanted to go to the toilet, his wife started crying. She could not tell him exactly what had happened so instead took a photograph and showed him that he no longer had his legs. “She thought I would be devastated and distressed but I told her I was grateful to have had the chance to live,”
he added. “So I said, ‘Let’s start again’. I could immediately see the strength come back in her. She has helped me so much and also my faith in God and I’ve not once questioned God why this happened to me.” Ana will be among those sitting in the Olympic Stadium on Friday when Derenalagi takes to the circle for the F57/58 discus final, along with one of the members from his unit from the day of the lifechanging explosion. The road to Stratford has not been an easy one and the physical and mental scars have been hard to bear at every junction. But the former rugby player - “it’s hard to play the sport any more as I don’t have legs,” he says, laughing - has transformed his life and his sporting career. He is the current European champion in the discus having come from nowhere to win the title in Holland in June beating the defending Paralympic champion Alexey Ashapatov, of Russia, in the process. He is ranked fifth in the world and his goal is quite simple - “I want to be on the podium in London.” The Fijian-born Derenalagi’s humour is striking. Any suggestions he might not qualify for the British team because of his origins are brushed off. He likes to joke that he is a titanium rather than plastic Brit. And having defended Britain in war, he rightfully says he sees himself as British. “I feel honoured to be representing this country,” he said. Britain should feel similarly honoured to have him among its ranks.
Thrown in: Derenalagi has become a leading discus thrower (top) and enjoys his love of rugby with Lawrence Dallaglio
Olazabal picks Jimenez as fourth Ryder Cup deputy
Sabathia makes successful return for New York Yankees
Baghdatis to begin US Open against Bachinger
EUROPEAN Ryder Cup skipper Jose Maria Olazabal has named fellow Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez as his fourth vice captain for next month’s match against the United States. Jimenez, 48, will join Dane Thomas Bjorn, Northern Irishman Darren Clarke and Ireland’s Paul McGinley as assistant captains at the Medinah Country Club in Illinois from September 28-30. “Miguel was Seve Ballesteros’s right-hand man in the 1997 edition and you know he has a very simple and great philosophy - he always sees the positive side and makes people feel better,” Olazabal said yesterday.
NICK Swisher had a productive night with the bat and CC Sabathia made an impressive return from injury as the New York Yankees beat Cleveland 3-1 to hand the Indians a ninth consecutive loss. Swisher batted in all three New York runs with a first inning double and a two run homer in the seventh, his 100th home run with the Yankees. Sabathia easily managed seven and a third innings, allowing just the one run, a solo homer to Asdrubal Cabrera in the fourth. The starting pitcher showed no signs of the sore left elbow that landed him on the 15-day disabled list.
MARCOS Baghdatis will take on German qualifier Matthias Bachinger in the opening round of the US Open at Flushing Meadows in New York. The 27-year-old Cypriot has beaten Bachinger in all their three previous meetings. Should Baghdatis overcome the German, he will then face either 14th-seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov or American Jesse Levine. Advancing further would likely see him face 18th seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in the third round, while defending champion and World No.2 Novak Djokovic could lie in wait in the fourth round.