Anne Wafula Strike

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Anne Wafula Strike MBE (born 8 May 1969) is a Harlow-based British Paralympic wheelchair racer.

Wafula Strike was born in Mihuu in Bungoma, Kenya, and contracted polio at the age of two, resulting in a later Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital diagnosis of below T7 paralysis.{{Cite web|url=http://www.apparelyzed.com/support/functionality/t5-t9.html|title=apparelyzed.com|website=www.apparelyzed.com|access-date=2018-04-27}} Arriving in the UK in April 2000, she was introduced to wheelchair racing in 2002 and in 2004 became the first Kenyan wheelchair racer to represent her country, competing in the T53{{cite web |url=http://ipc-athletics.paralympic.org/export/sites/ipc_sports_athletics/Classification/2010_07_16_IPC_Athletics_Classification_Handbook_2006.pdf |title=Archived copy |website=ipc-athletics.paralympic.org |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110124131624/http://ipc-athletics.paralympic.org/export/sites/ipc_sports_athletics/Classification/2010_07_16_IPC_Athletics_Classification_Handbook_2006.pdf |archive-date=24 January 2011 |url-status=dead}} 400m finals at the Paralympics in Athens. Following a successful application for British citizenship in 2006, she became a member of Team GB and, after reclassification, now competes in the T54 racing category as a British athlete.

A past winner of the BBC's 'My Story' competition,{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/my-story/stories/winners/|title=BBC – My Story|publisher=}} her autobiography In my Dreams I Dance was published by HarperCollins in 2010.Wafula Strike, Anne (2010). In My Dreams I Dance, HarperCollins, London. {{ISBN|978-0-00-735428-3}}.

In 2013, Wafula Strike was featured in Paul Stenning's Success - By Those Who've Made It, alongside many celebrities and notable people. Hers was the last personal biography featured in the book, which Stenning explained was because her story was the most powerful and the greatest example of success."Live Preston & Fylde magazine", March 2014{{cite book |author=Stenning, Paul | authorlink=Paul Stenning | title= Success - By Those Who've Made It. Pg. 203-207 |publisher=In Flight Books |date=24 November 2013 |isbn=978-1628475869 }}

She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to disability sport and charity.{{London Gazette |issue=60895 |date=14 June 2014 |page=b24 |supp=y}}

In January 2017, while on a CrossCountry train, she was unable to reach a toilet on time due to sitting in a wheelchair. She lost control of her bladder and urinated into her clothing. In the aftermath, she criticised CrossCountry for failing to provide a working disabled accessible toilet on the train.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jan/02/paralympian-anne-wafula-strike-wet-herself-train-no-accessible-toilet|title=Paralympian forced to wet herself on train without accessible toilet|author= Taylor, Diane|date=2 January 2017|work=The Guardian|accessdate=2 January 2017}}

Anne has one child - named Timothy - with her husband Norman.{{cite book |author=Stenning, Paul | authorlink=Paul Stenning | title= Success - By Those Who've Made It. Pg. 207 |publisher=In Flight Books |date=24 November 2013 |isbn=978-1628475869 }}

In 2020 Wafula was named as a special envoy to the Commonwealth by Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland.{{Cite web|url=https://www.modernghana.com/news/1049373/commonwealth-secretary-general-announces-four-spec.html|title=Commonwealth Secretary-General announces four special envoys and champions}}