month agenda of hospital visits, tests, basic
learning tasks and daily physiotherapy followed.
“I thought, If I can walk I can do gymnastics
again, so that spurred me on,” says Behan, who
is coached by Simon Gale, Demetrious “Jimmy”
Bradshaw and Darren Gerrard. “All that I had
been through was a good grounding, and I had
more belief from achieving it before to do it
again. After two years I finally stepped back into
the gym again. This was a moment I will always
remember.”
Behan’s valiant trudge continued as he entered
the senior ranks. He won the British floor title in
2005, and then broke his right wrist in 2006.
“They were unsure of the amount of damage
until they opened it up,” Behan recalls of the sur-
gery. “I had to have all of the cartilage removed
from my wrist and a metal plate put in. They
“I had to relearn
everything that we
take for granted,
such as sitting up,
moving my head from
left to right, feeding
myself, walking—
everything. This was
one of the longest and
loneliest roads I have
ever had to travel.”
drilled a hole from the bottom of my wrist to the
tip of my little finger so the bone would grow
back stronger. The rehab took a long time …
but by about 2008 I was able to be train quite
comfortably on it again. It still gives me some dis-
comfort, but thank God for wrist supports.”
Preserving his knees, Behan competed on
rings, parallel bars and high bar at last year’s
world championships in Rotterdam. He placed
sixth or better on the same three events at last
year’s Northern Europeans in Finland. This past
March he placed ninth on floor in qualifications
at the Tournament of Masters in Cottbus. On
high bar at Europeans in Berlin in April, Behan’s
execution score of 8.975 was the highest of the
field in qualifications.
Behan insists he senses no major physical limitations or psychological trepidation, despite his
injury-laden past. He is already upgrading his
tumbling, one sure sign that he is aiming courageously toward future challenges.
“I love learning new skills and being in a gym
surrounded by like-minded people,” Behan says.
“I enjoy the buzz of competition. To me gymnastics is exciting and thrilling and full of life, and
not something to be feared. There is danger in
every sport, but the excitement of the sport overrides the fear.” IG
IG contributor John Crumlish lives in Los Angeles.
