Yet 12 weeks later, Rogers was back in the pool doing rehab. And by summer 2024 she was in Paris winning Paralympic gold. But perhaps the most remarkable thing of all is that she is quicker now than she was pre-accident.
“I never in a million years thought that I could be faster,” Rogers, who is unable to straighten her right arm, tells BBC Sport. “Yes, it looks a bit different and there is definitely an impairment there. But I’ve worked harder, I’m fitter, I’m stronger.
“My message is just ‘don’t let anyone tell you what you can and can’t do’. We’re all different. We’ve all got our own stuff. But I think anything is totally doable if you put your mind to it.”
Not many Para-athletes have done what Rogers has.
It was last year that she resolved to put her “big girl pants on” and act upon a notion she’d had for a while to test where she was in the 200m fly. And the first time she did swim it, she realised she was only just a fraction shy of her pre-accident best.
With that, her mind was made up. She spoke to the selectors and it was agreed that, as long as three other athletes did not post faster times, she could compete at the Commonwealths. They didn’t, and Rogers was in.
“I found out a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been so, so excited ever since,” said the Edinburgh University student before the heats.
“There’s no pressure. I think it’s such a privilege to have the opportunity to stand up there and and to show other people with impairments that, no matter what you are told, and no matter what gets thrown at you, like there’s a way through it.
“We quite often get told we can’t. And this is my way of proving that we can.”
He introduced Bowen to wheelchair racing, in which she immediately won medals, before she found a passion for throwing.
“I had just started shot put, discus and javelin when Covid happened. I went back after and was thrown into a competition and I won best performer,” she said.
“So I was like, ‘oh, I’m okay at it’ and then I just kept going and fell in love with it.”
It is hard to imagine there will be many spectators at Glasgow’s Scotstoun Stadium more proud than Bowen’s parents who still regard themselves “lucky” to have her.
“We nearly lost her at 13 months old, but she’s here and doing amazing,” said her mother Anne.
“Growing up, she wanted to be like her siblings and would say, ‘they can ride a bike, why can’t I ride a bike?’ So she did.”
Bowen’s determination is only matched by the efforts of her parents to make sure their daughter can achieve her potential in the sport.
Her father Martin built a specially adapted bicycle so she could ride with her family, then moved onto bigger things when he built a campervan to ensure his daughter could to travel to athletics competitions.
“She has just come on so well. Nothing has ever been an obstacle for her,” said Martin.
“Whatever you put ahead of her, she’ll try and do it and if she can’t do it, she’ll get around it.”
Now Bowen hopes she can make her parents proud when they cheer her on in Glasgow.
“It’s the biggest competition I’ve ever done and I’m just happy to be there,” she said.
“It would mean the world to me to win a medal but just being there, I’m so thankful.”
Abidjan, Ivory Coast – For decades, many of Ivory Coast’s biggest consumer markets were built around international companies with established brands, global supply chains and deep financial resources.
But a number of Ivorian businesses are now finding room to grow.
From petroleum distribution and digital banking to cosmetics manufacturing, these companies are entering sectors where foreign firms have long been dominant, building customer bases at home and looking beyond Ivory Coast’s borders.
Their rise does not signal the retreat of multinational companies, which remain major players across the economy. Instead, the experiences of Petro Ivoire, Djamo and Kaira Holding show how some domestic firms are competing by moving quickly, understanding their markets and investing in production.
Fuel challenge
When Petro Ivoire entered Ivory Coast’s petroleum sector in 1994, international oil companies controlled much of the market.
Today, the company says it is the country’s largest locally owned fuel distributor and ranks third overall behind TotalEnergies and Shell.
Sebastien Kadio-Morokro, Petro Ivoire’s chief executive, said the company’s founders believed a domestic business could compete by combining knowledge of the market with international standards.
“In the 1990s, the market was managed exclusively by multinationals,” Kadio-Morokro told Al Jazeera. “My late father’s idea was that, given the local expertise we had acquired in this industry, it was important to offer something authentic to the local market while strictly adhering to international standards.”
A Petro Ivoire petrol station in Abidjan. The company is among a group of Ivorian firms challenging established international brands [AbdulHadi Heriba/Al Jazeera]
The company says it now holds about 15 percent of Ivory Coast’s fuel market. Kadio-Morokro said being locally owned allows the company to make decisions faster than larger international rivals.
“When a strategic decision needs to be made, we can convene our board immediately and move forward,” he said. “We don’t have to navigate a long chain of decision-making through headquarters overseas.”
That approach helped Petro Ivoire move into the butane gas market in 2007, a sector the company says it now leads. It is also investing in electric-vehicle charging infrastructure as Ivory Coast prepares for changes in transport and energy use.
For Kadio-Morokro, the company’s experience reflects a broader challenge facing African businesses: building confidence that companies created on the continent can compete at scale.
“Africans must trust their countries, themselves and their continent,” he said. “There is no reason why we cannot succeed at home.”
Digital banking
In West Africa’s financial sector, another company is challenging traditional ways of accessing banking services.
Djamo launched in Ivory Coast in 2020, offering accounts, savings and investment products through a mobile application. The company says it now serves more than two million customers and 10,000 small and medium-sized enterprises.
For cofounder Hassan Bourgi, one of the biggest obstacles was convincing investors that francophone West Africa could produce a technology company capable of scaling.
Djamo cofounders Adis Labi, left, and Hassan Bourgi are building a digital banking platform aimed at changing how consumers access financial services in francophone West Africa [AbdulHadi Heriba/Al Jazeera]
“The biggest hurdle we encountered was that our region was completely off the radar for global venture capital investors,” Bourgi told Al Jazeera. “Historically, tech investment flowed almost exclusively into four main hubs: Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Egypt.”
Djamo sought to challenge that perception by showing investors that companies from francophone markets could grow beyond their borders.
“We showed investors that it was possible to build a large company here,” Bourgi said. “We highlighted the stability of our economy and the CFA franc, which created a strong environment for us to build and expand.”
The company focused heavily on younger consumers, designing a platform around the habits of a generation already familiar with digital services.
“Generation Z was the cornerstone upon which we built our product,” Bourgi said. “We wanted to provide an experience that matched what people encountered every day on international platforms.”
Scaling up
The growth of companies such as Petro Ivoire and Djamo comes as Ivory Coast seeks to strengthen its domestic private sector and help businesses move beyond the national market.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Ivory Coast’s employers’ association, CGECI, have launched programmes aimed at helping promising companies improve access to finance, strengthen management and prepare for regional expansion.
For many entrepreneurs, the challenge is not only building a successful business at home but creating companies large enough to compete across borders.
Few stories capture that journey more clearly than Kaira Holding.
From cot to cosmetics
In 2009, Fode Kaira Yatabare launched his cosmetics company from a two-room apartment in Abidjan.
The apartment served as both home and office. Each night, he slept on a folding military cot that had to be packed away each morning to make space for work.
Today, Kaira Holding exports beauty and personal care products to 32 countries across Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
Products from Kaira Holding, an Ivory Coast-based cosmetics manufacturer, have expanded from a small apartment operation into an export venture serving 32 countries [AbdulHadi Heriba/Al Jazeera]
“I belong to a new generation of African entrepreneurs who passionately believe in local manufacturing and value addition,” Yatabare told Al Jazeera.
“When we started, capital constraints were immense. We launched from a tiny two-room flat. We only managed to scrape together four million CFA francs [about $7,000] to start producing soap.”
The company has since invested in its own packaging, printing and manufacturing processes, reducing its dependence on imported inputs.
“Many people fail to realise that manufacturing costs in Africa can actually be lower than in China if you fully integrate your value chain,” Yatabare said. “This vertical integration has made us more competitive.”
Kaira Holding is now expanding its research capacity and preparing to enter new markets, including China.
The experiences of Petro Ivoire, Djamo and Kaira Holding do not represent the end of multinational influence in Ivory Coast. But they show how some African businesses are building an advantage by staying close to consumers, making decisions quickly and investing in their own capacity.
For Yatabare, that ambition reflects a changing mindset among entrepreneurs on the continent.
“Africa has changed,” he told Al Jazeera. “We are moving forward guided by a singular ambition: from Côte d’Ivoire to the world.”
The full line-up for Celebrity Hunted on Channel 4 has been released, with stars from Strictly Come Dancing, EastEnders, Love Island and more battling the Hunters.
Brian Conley is going on the run(Image: Hoda Davaine/Dave Benett/Getty I)
Celebrity Hunted is officially returning to our screens, with a fresh batch of stars going on the run to help raise money for Stand Up To Cancer.
More than a decade after the first series of Hunted aired on Channel 4, the hit show will be returning to our screens very soon – as a string of famous faces will become fugitives in August.
EastEnders icon Brian Conley will be competing with his daughter Lucy, while Strictly Come Dancing stars Amy Dowden and Carlos Gu are also hoping to go unnoticed by Ray Howard and his “elite team of Hunters”.
Love Islanders Chris Taylor and Toby Aromolaran will be taking part, beside JJ Chalmers and Sophie Morgan, and presenters and siblings Scarlette and Stuart Douglas. Comedians Jen Brister and Laura Smythe also make up the line-up.
The celebrity pairs will have to “vanish into mainland Britain, cutting themselves off from the lives – and the fame – they’ve always relied upon. For 14 relentless days they must stay hidden, think fast and trust no one because the moment they leave a trail, the hunt is on.
“In a world where almost every movement leaves a footprint, can these celebrity fugitives escape the glare of the spotlight and remain under the radar, or will the Hunters bring every fugitive into custody before the 14 days are up?”
While Hunted first aired in 2015, the celebrity version began two years later – The Wanted singers Jay McGuinness and Siva Kaneswaran outwitted the Hunters to take home the crown in 2017.
The most recent season aired at the beginning of last year, with Christine McGuinness and Duncan James defeating the Hunters.
Shedding light on the upcoming season of Celebrity Hunted, which will begin filming next month, Factual Entertainment Commissioning Editor for Channel 4 Ian Dunkley said: ”When celebrities go on the run and are forced to engage the help of us mere mortals, chaos and comedy inevitably ensue.
“Hunted down by a motivated team of police and security professionals, this series reveals what it takes to remain hidden when everybody knows what you look like.’’
Matt Bennett, Director of Programmes for Shine TV, added: “Celebrity Hunted is the only TV series – alongside its cousin, Hunted – which continues to remind us of the powers of the state in an entertaining and engaging way.
“This is our most ambitious series yet, beginning with a breathtaking aerial launch amongst the skyscrapers of London, then a daring escape at the end of the run for any who evade capture… with a great deal of entertaining mischief in between.”
