{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"","title":"Becoming a Boccia Champion and Comedian with Gabby Rolls","description":"Rising comedian Gabby Rolls joins Alex and Siobhan in this extended episode that is all about the challenges of becoming a champion in the sport of boccia and doing comedy. Aged 22, she is also the youngest guest so far to appear on the Following Through Podcast.\n \nGabby has cerebral palsy after being deprived of oxygen at birth and is a wheelchair-user. But that hasn't stopped her from launching successful careers in sport and as a comedian. \n \nShe describes how watching the London 2012 Paralympic Games inspired her as an eight-year-old, then took up the sport of boccia soon after the Rio games four years later when recovering from hip surgery.\n \nGabby won a bronze medal in her first-ever competition and made her debut for the England boccia team a year later, aged 15. \n \nWinner of Disabled Comedian of the Year 2026, She talks about her experiences as a comedian and wheelchair-user, and how dark humour has helped get her through some difficult times. \n \nIn Sh*t or Miss, Gabby tells a story from her experiences in hospital when having an operation aged 12 years after being pumped full of bowel-loosening medication. After having an enema, she thought the worst was over when she was having her meal. But was it? \n \nMusic is by Rich Shillitoe.","author_name":"Siobhan Dodd & Alex Love"}