Alphonso cunningham biography

Abandoned at the Spanish Town Hospital and raised by the State, Paralympic athlete Alphanso Cunningham says he grew up with the belief he was doomed to a life of penury because of his physical disability.

But all that changed in 2000 after Paralympic coach Neville Sinclair encouraged him to shun the belief, and prophesied that he would become “a world beater” in the sport of javelin.

“I laughed at him and said, ‘never’,” Cunningham reflects in an interview with JIS News on the compound of the Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre, St.

Andrew where he began his career as a javelin and discus thrower more than a decade ago.

With two Paralympic gold medals later and a major deal as corporate ambassador with Digicel, Cunningham admits he is often amazed by his own accomplishments.

“For somebody like me with a disability to become a brand ambassador for a major company; I wasn’t dreaming of that.

Once, this was just for the able-bodied, but now when they [disabled persons] see this