Bush not dwelling on the past as he heads to his first Paralympic Games

By Ayisha Gulati

Managing an AirBnb is all the respite that Matt Bush needs from his intense training regime ahead of his first Paralympic Games.

After sustaining an ACL injury agonisingly close to Tokyo three years ago, the St Clears native was ruled out of what would have been his first Games.

Three years later, the 35-year-old isn’t dwelling on the past but looking forward to Paris and beyond, including his endeavours outside the sport alongside his gruelling training regime.

“I’m just a glutton for punishment,” said Bush. “I just keep going, keep training and doing what I need to do.

“A bit of discipline in life and routine helps, but I also enjoy the other things in my life to keep my brain going.”

These other things are his involvement in his family business, which keeps the nation fed by delivering dairy products, and an Airbnb he manages.

“It’s stunning - it’s in Pembrokeshire on the estuary and you can see the water from it.

“I keep telling everyone in the team they need to come down and use it - but it’s about a six hour drive from where everyone is. But it’s worth the journey!”

Bush still finds it hard to reflect on being ruled out of Tokyo 2020 just two weeks before the start of the Games.

“The injury was really bad timing for Tokyo,” he added. “It was just unfortunate because injuries happen throughout the cycle, but this one happened so close.

“But it’s just one of those things. Injuries are part of sport, so you just have to deal with it and crack on.

“Everything we did in the build up to Tokyo, I know I can take forward to Paris."

It was in fact a previous injury that led him to take up taekwondo in the first place.

A former javelin thrower who represented Wales, a shoulder injury sustained in 2018 halted his progress, and as a lover of fighting and MMA, he was advised to take up taekwondo.

“It just stuck,” Bush said. “Within a few weeks, I was in Korea fighting. It was hard to get used to at first because it’s totally different, even to the other fighting sports I had done.

“I transferred as many skills across as I could but getting used to all the equipment, the points system and the tournament style took time. You could be fighting five times in a day.

“It’s a slow burner but once you start seeing success and gradually start winning tournaments and figuring it out, it’s off to the races from there.

“My goals this summer are to perform at my best and bring home gold.”

Bush goes into Tokyo in fine form, having won gold at the 2023 World Championships, gold at the Grand Prix in China in 2023 and bronze at 2024 European Championships.

Bush is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – this is vital for his pathway to the Paris 2024 Games.

Amy Truesdale and Beth Munro join Bush as the three fighters selected to represent ParalympicsGB in taekwondo at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games this summer.

ParalympicsGB Chef de Mission Penny Briscoe said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to welcome our trio of Para taekwondo athletes to the ParalympicsGB team for Paris 2024.

“I’m so pleased for Matt that he will now be able to join Amy and Beth on the biggest stage of all and showcase his incredible talent at the Paralympic Games this summer.”

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