Love has arthrogryposis – a condition which affects her legs and joints. Her right leg is shorter than her left and she is missing muscles in both legs, but she never let that get in the way of sport when she was growing up in Ayr.
Football and tennis were all part of her life before basketball came into her world at Napier University in Edinburgh and the camaraderie and banter made it a special time for Love.
But a meeting with Basketball Scotland’s Wheelchair Basketball Development Officer Tina Gordon in November 2013 put her on a different path, which has already yielded a European bronze medal and a place in the team for Rio.
“Although I took PE classes in school, it was obvious I had a disability and I couldn’t run very well,” she explains. “I refused point blank to do athletics in school because I knew I wouldn’t be as fast as the others and it was because of my disability.
“I didn’t want people feeling sorry for me, but when it came to sports where running wasn’t the main thing I was able to be the best and show them that I could play sport as well as anyone.
“I’ve been trying to avoid running most of my life and now I’m grateful to have found a sport where I don’t have to do it!
“The main transition was finding out how to move the chair but when I got in the chair, straightaway I loved it. It’s like riding a bike – it’s just another skill to learn.”
