© British Athletics / Getty Images
Kare is a remarkable young woman. Inspired to enter sports after watching athletes with disabilities similar to her own race in the London 2012 Paralympic Games, Kare – now 21 years old – is already a T34 Elite Paralympic GB Wheelchair Racer with three Paralympic medals to her name.
Although Kare was born with cerebral palsy that affects her legs, she is not limited by this, preferring to live by the belief that anything is achievable if you set your mind to it. And she’s certainly done that.
Kare started wheelchair competitions in 2013 at the age of 12, quickly becoming the British Athletics U15 track champion in 100m, 200m, 400m and 1500m – a title which she retained in all subsequent years.
Her successes in 2013 led to an invitation by the British Paralympic Association to attend a camp for young athletes. This was soon followed by a call from the GB wheelchair lead coach to join the Futures Programme for wheelchair athletes with the potential to win medals for Team GB at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
At 14, Kare was the youngest member of the GB Elite Wheelchair Racing Team and also a recipient of the World Class Performance Programme. She is the only T34 wheelchair athlete to have defeated Hannah Cockcroft in seven years and more than 350 competitive races.
Kare competed at the Rio 2016 Paralympics some four years ahead of the British Paralympic Association's projected plan, winning three medals and also setting personal bests.
At the recent World Para Athletics Championships London 2017, Kare secured three medals and eclipsed all her personal bests from the previous world championships in Doha, Qatar.
Two years later, at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai and to her great credit, Kare was appointed Team GB captain – the youngest ever of the British team – along with Richard Whitehead. She went on to win silver in the T34 100m race.
Kare’s successes have led to many further awards off the track too. As well as being a role model for young athletes, she also acts as an advocate at schools for inclusive sports for all regardless of disability, ethnicity or body shape.
Kare Adenegan – in conversation
BP Ambassador Kare Adenegan, silver medallist in the T34 100m World Para Athletics in Dubai (November 2019), is interviewed by Alexandra Galviz for BP about her journey from watching the Paralympics on TV to representing Team GB at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games just four years later.