Meet the Welshman who's the world's best Paralympian shot putter

Aled Davies is one of the most decorated athletes Wales has ever produced. He is also one of the most recognisable faces in the world of para-athletics.

Born with Hemimelia in his right leg, Davies doesn’t have a right foot, tibia or any ligaments in his knee. Now at the age of 33, he has come to terms with the cards that life dealt him.

But his relationship with his disability has not always been straightforward.

"I grew up in an able-bodied world,” he tells ITV Wales.

"I had no education of disability, no awareness of it. I didn't go to any disability clubs, didn't have any friends with a disability. I knew my leg was different, you know, I knew I was born different and I always tried to hide it.

"I had a lot of stick growing up, like most people who are different, but it made me who I am. It sounds really sad when I talk about it now because I feel like - why was I ashamed?

"That’s where para-sports changed things for me. It changed perceptions."

Davies recalls seeing a young girl, a double leg amputee, wearing shorts at the Olympic Park a number of years ago. It stopped him in his tracks and stuck with him to this day.

"I never had that sort of confidence, I always hid my legs. So it was nice to think that in front of me was a sort of legacy [of the Paralympic Games]."

Davies has become the best in the world in both the shot-put and discus. He hasn’t lost an event that he’s entered for a decade.

It’s a level of dominance that is almost unparalleled, and yet there is a harsh reality to life as a para-athlete.

Despite sitting on top of the world, Davies has no private sponsors and relies on funding from UK Sport.

"It’s a tough one because I'm in a position where I'm so grateful for everything I've had. When I was a child, looking at being a professional athlete, that wasn't an option. That avenue didn't exist for anyone with a disability.

"But it’s hard. We're one of the only countries that doesn't give athletes a cash prize for medals at the Games.

"A lot of us can’t buy a house because we haven’t got that cushion to build deposits. I could probably count on one hand the number of athletes who are able to get mortgages.”

Despite the challenges, the Welshman’s medal record is nothing short of remarkable.

In total, he has won 12 gold medals at the European Championships, nine golds and one silver at the World Championships, one gold and one silver at the Commonwealth Games, and three golds and one bronze at the Paralympics.

He also happens to be the current world record holder in both the shot put and the discus.

“It’s surreal,” he says with a chuckle. “I mean, I still feel like the kid that had aspirations to make a Paralympic Games and bring home a gold medal and to think that I’m going into my fourth games now with still the same fire in my belly and still the same hunger for the same colour - I feel very privileged and lucky to have a dream job.”

But all that success brings a pressure to deliver every time he steps into the arena.

And it also means that he has a giant target on his back with rivals queueing up to knock him off the top spot.

“It's the hardest challenge,” he says. “Every major champs I go into, there's a target on my back. Everyone wants to beat me and unfortunately everyone wants me to lose.

“It does get boring seeing the same guy being so dominant. I get that. But, at the same time, I'm the one at the forefront pushing and making sure that I am better than everyone else and that even on a bad day, my throws are still further than everyone else.

“I've learned over the years with my experience, if you stop thinking about the medals and just think about the performance and execute that performance, you will go home with the colour that you came for.”

If he’s to notch up another medal in Paris this weekend, Davies will also have to overcome considerable injury problems.

For two years, he’s been battling osteitis pubis, which causes considerable pain and swelling in the groin.

There is a danger that disaster could strike when Davies puts everything into his throws at the Stade de France.

But that risk is something he has long since made peace with.

“It is very, very annoying,” he explains. “With my adductor being so tight and pulling on the hip, there is obviously that risk that I could come round and crank my right leg and potentially pull my adductor off the bone.

“But my opinion at this point is, look, you get me to the start line and if I'm going to break or I'm going to get injured, it's going to be out there doing everything I can to defend that gold medal and representing my country.”

On the Paris Games, he concludes: “This is going to be the hardest one of my career. It's going to be a dogfight. Everyone is geared up and I think they can see that I am on the ropes a bit.

“I think they underestimate what I'm going to bring to the table this summer. But for me, this is everything.”

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