Paralympian Matt Formston calls marriage to Bex his greatest achievement
Australian big-wave surfer and Paralympic cyclist Matt Formston has called his relationship with his wife Rebecca Formston, known as Bex, his greatest achievement. The couple met online in 2010, when Rebecca was living in Sydney for several months after moving from the United Kingdom.
As ABC News Australia reports, before meeting Bex, Formston had achieved success in business and sport but had experienced several unsuccessful relationships. In 2008, he made a list of 12 qualities he wanted to see in his future wife and realized that he himself did not meet at least six of them. He then decided to work on himself.
Meeting at the beach
For their first meeting, Formston and Bex agreed to meet at the beach. Rebecca knew that Matt was blind, but did not realize to what extent. She explained over the phone where she was sitting and what she was wearing, and he found her among the crowd. During lunch, Bex handed him a menu, after which it became clear that he could not read it.
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Later, they began spending every weekend together. Formston said he fell in love with Bex when, after a trip together, they got stuck in traffic and she calmly kept the conversation going without complaining. Rebecca, in turn, said that she was falling in love with both Matt and Sydney at the same time.
Family and sporting campaigns
The couple are raising three children. Bex recalled that the birth of their first child coincided with a period of Matt's intensive preparation for the Paralympics. When the child was eight weeks old, the athlete went to Mexico for several weeks, where, according to him, he set a world record. Formston noted that during this challenge he thought about his wife, who had remained at home with the baby.
In 2016, when their daughter was born, he was taking part in an Olympic campaign. After the birth of their youngest son in 2018, Formston went on a filming trip to Indonesia without phone service. He acknowledged that these circumstances were difficult for their relationship. Formston, a four-time world para-surfing champion, called Bex his main partner in life.
