Martine Wiltshire,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(née Wright; born 30 September 1972) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

sitting volleyball Sitting volleyball is a form of volleyball for athletes with a disability. As opposed to standing volleyball, sitting volleyball players must have at least one buttock in contact with the floor during the game. History Sitting volleyball was inve ...

player. Wright, who was born in London, lost both of her legs in the Aldgate underground explosion in the 7/7 London bombings in 2005. She lost 80% of the blood in her body and was in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

for ten days and had to undergo ten months of surgery following the injury. As part of her rehabilitation she played

wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designed wheelchairs, a ...

before focusing on

. Wright was an initial member of the Great Britain women's squad which began playing together in late 2009, making her debut at the 2010 Kent International tournament against Paralympic Champions, China. In July 2012 she was picked to represent Great Britain's women's sitting volleyball team at the

event in the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

. Wright was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2016 Birthday Honours The 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as pa ...

for services to sport.

Personal life

Wright gained a degree in Psychology and Communication Studies from the

University of East London , mottoeng = Knowledge and the fulfilment of vows , established = 1898 – West Ham Technical Institute1952 – West Ham College of Technology1970 – North East London Polytechnic1989 – Polytechnic of East London ...

in 1996. After the 7/7 bombings she campaigned for better compensation for victims of the bombings and their families and has been an ambassador for sport for disabled people.

References

Living people 1972 births British amputees Sportspeople from London Alumni of the University of East London English terrorism victims Paralympic volleyball players of Great Britain Volleyball players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics British sitting volleyball players Members of the Order of the British Empire Survivors of terrorist attacks {{UK-sport-bio-stub