WHEN sporty teenager Philip Craven broke his back in a rock-climbing accident he might have given up on all his ambitions.

As a 16-year-old pupil at Bolton School, Philip fell 50 feet down Horrocks Fold Quarry while climbing with friends and was paralysed from the waist down. Now, 35 years on, he has been elected president of the International Paralympic Committee after becoming a successful athlete despite his injuries.

Philip, who lived in Higher Market Street, Farnworth, was climbing down a cliff face with friends on September 26, 1966, when a peg holding his rope to the rock fell out.

"It was a far greater shock to my friends than to me," said Philip, now 51.

"People might think I'm strange but I don't look back on the accident with any bitterness and I am grateful for the way it changed my life.

"When I realised I had broken my back and I wouldn't walk again, I just swapped my legs for a wheelchair and carried on."

Philip's former physics teacher, David Shaw, now deputy headteacher at Bolton School, remembers his pupil's amazing recovery.

"Philip had started sixth form two weeks before the accident. He was a very active boy and loved all outdoor sports.

"He had about six months off school and came back in a wheelchair and completed his A-levels to gain straight As.

"We still remember his fantastic determination as a young lad -- something which has obviously continued through his adult life." Philip, who studied economic history at Manchester University, is an MBE and lives in Crewe with his French wife, Jocelyne, and children Gaelle and Yann.

He has represented Great Britain at wheelchair basketball 180 times, captaining the team, and won awards as a paralympic swimmer.

His career has included working as a sports rehabilitation helper in France and as senior administrator for the North-west collieries in the 1980s.

Philip has beaten three older candidates to become president of the IPC, which involves boosting relations with the International Olympic Committee.

"When I was recovering from the accident, some people said there was not hope for me and that I would never have children or lead a full life," he said.

"I hope in my new role to get rid of the word 'disabled' altogether because I think that it is quite unnecessary.

"Most of all, I want to help many more people experience the great joys of paralympic sports like I have."