Gareth Davies

"I wear my lucky socks and knickers and keep a small porcelain black cat in my jacket pocket. I just check it is still there before I start my test." Any guesses who the mystery Paralympian is? No, it's not the wicked witch of the West, it's Nicola Tustain, the brilliant equestrian rider, winner of three gold and three bronze medals from the last two Games, who just happens to be highly superstitious. "It all started after I saw a black cat just before I was competing at the 1999 World Championships," explains Tustain.

Like her team-mate Lee Pearson, who is the GB team's equivalent of Frankie Howerd and Graham Norton rolled into one, Tustain is quite a character.

She started riding competitively when she was ten as a way of escaping the bullying she experienced throughout secondary school. "Unfortunately, I was one of those kids who was a target for bullying - simply because of the way I looked! This knocked my confidence completely. I started riding as a distraction and was introduced to dressage at my local Riding for the Disabled Centre. It was really scary to begin with, but I soon started to take it seriously." Now 30, she is revered in equestrian circles, but luck has not been on her side of late. Tustain's greatest problem has been finding a horse for the Paralympic Games in September. The equestrian event takes place in Hong Kong. Her favoured horse, Prinz Heinrich, went lame and then she fractured her coccyx. But there may be an answer to her prayers in Rivaldo - a dark brown, nine-year old Oldenburg.

"I found him in Warwickshire and fell in love with him the minute I saw him! He seems to tick all the right boxes for a potential horse for the next Paralympics. He seems to have a good temperament, which is what I'm really looking for. If all goes to plan, we'll work together to achieve my dream - three gold medals in Hong Kong next year."

She has also received support from The Berkeley Group, parent company to some of the UK's leading Development Brands. "Equestrian sport is so expensive. I am supported by the National Lottery, which is obviously a massive help. I am also really thankful of the support from The Berkeley Group - hopefully I can reward them with a Paralympic medal. He is a very special horse with very nice paces and I very much hope that, with his talent and my Paralympic experience, we will have the potential medal combination for Beijing. As a Para-Equestrian Dressage rider, I am fortunate to be part of British Dressage. It enables us to compete alongside the able bodied competitors, so we have more competition choice and, therefore, we get more experience. But it does mean I have a hectic schedule so I'll have my work cut out with getting Rivaldo of Berkeley in tip top condition for the rest of the selection trials."

Lord Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London Organising Committee has included Stoke Mandeville Stadium in the list of national training facilities for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. By a long way, it is the most advanced centre for disability sport in the country. To the uninitiated, Stoke Mandeville Stadium has become known as the 'home of wheelchair sport' and the 'birthplace of the Paralympic Games'. It owes its existence to Sir Ludwig Guttmann, a neurologist at Stoke Mandeville Hospital who believed passionately that access to sport played a vital role in the rehabilitation of those suffering injury or disease to the spine. In 1944 Guttmann founded the National Spinal Injuries Centre and pioneered the integration of sport into the rehabilitation of spinal injury patients.

The provision of sporting facilities at Stoke Mandeville started in the 1940's and in 1969 Stoke Mandeville Stadium was opened by Her Majesty The Queen. In 1984 the centre played host to the Paralympic Games with some 1200 athletes taking part in a festival of sport. In April 2003 the Stoke Mandeville Stadium was opened by HRH The Prince of Wales, Royal Patron of WheelPower, following a £10.2 million redevelopment.

Finally...more news on double amputee Oscar Pistorius, who is claiming a new scientific investigation has produced "completely different" results to those that saw him banned from competing against able-bodied athletes by the International Association of Athletics Federation. The IAAF announced their decision in January after studying the findings of a two-day independent study in November 2007 which found that the South African's 'cheetah' blades gave him a clear advantage. Last month Pistorius - nicknamed 'Blade Runner' - launched an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the IAAF's ruling with the BBC reporting the decision is due on March 25. The IAAF's ruling prompted the 21-year-old undergo fresh tests in the USA and Germany.

The results have restored Pistorius' optimism that he may be able to run at the Beijing Olympics although he would have little time to achieve the qualifying time. In the documentary 'The Fastest Man On No Legs', Pistorius says: "We've done tests last week in Houston, they re-did the tests they did in Germany and the results were completely different. We're very optimistic. I'm really excited for the outcome. I am still hoping that I can make the cut-off to qualify for the Olympic Games but time is tight and I only have until mid-June I think and I haven't had any able-bodied races."

Pistorius's fight goes on.