How this athlete competing in Rio 2016 survived being crushed by her father's forklift truck

Charlie Crowhurst / Getty

Samantha Kinghorn representing Great Britain at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha.

British Paralympian Samantha Kinghorn, 20, grew up in the Scottish Borders region. As a child she liked to help her father, Neil, on the family's farm.

In November 2010, when Samantha was 14, she accompanied her father as he cleared their neighbours' driveways during a snowstorm, with his forklift truck. Due to the weather conditions, visibility was poor.

Feeling playful, Samantha, who was enjoying the four-foot-deep snow, climbed onto the slowly moving vehicle, under the impression that her father could see her - but he couldn't. Above the teenager, the truck's forks were raised, holding a heavy bucket of snow.

Suddenly, Neil lowered the forks to empty the load, squashing Samantha under the weight of the packed snow and ice.

"I was sitting and it crushed my shoulders downwards until my back popped," Samantha told Business Insider. "I panicked and I knew I needed to get out. When my dad started to bring the bucket back up, I knew that I only had a certain amount of time to get out and make my Dad see I was there before he lowered it again."

Blocking out the excruciating pain in her back, Samantha dragged herself out of the way, managing to form something halfway between a run and a crawl.

The next moment, she slipped on the ice and fell. Samantha felt her legs tingling and each toe jerking individually, before all of her muscles tensed up.

"As soon as that happened, I knew I was never going to walk again," she said.

In the six years since her back was broken and she was paralysed from the waist down, she became obsessed with wheelchair racing, training for six days a week in all seasons, on the roads surrounding her family's farm.

At 18, Samantha won three gold medals at the European Championships and on July 26, she was named as one of the 25 British athletes who will be flown to Rio de Janeiro to compete in the Paralympics this summer.

We spoke with Samantha to learn about how she turned a family tragedy into international sporting success.