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Greg Smith (Paralympian)

Australian Paralympic athlete (born 1967)

Summary

Australian Paralympic athlete (born 1967)

Field	Value
name	Greg Smith
image	190411 - Greg Smith - 3b - 2012 Team processing.jpg
caption	2012 Australian Paralympic team portrait of Smith
fullname	Gregory Stephen Smith
nationality	Australian
birth_date
birth_place	Ballarat, Victoria
disability_class	T51, T52, 2.0 (Wheelchair rugby)

Gregory Stephen Smith, OAM (born 19 August 1967) is an Australian Paralympic athlete and wheelchair rugby player who won three gold medals in athletics at the 2000 Summer Paralympics, and a gold medal in wheelchair rugby at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, where he was the flag bearer at the opening ceremony. Since 2018, he has been the Assistant Coach of the Australian Steelers.

Personal

Smith was born on 19 August 1967 in the Victorian city of Ballarat. He broke his neck in a car accident in 1987 while he was a physical training instructor with the Australian Army. The accident left him with little movement from the chest down. He went through one and a half years of gruelling rehabilitation but his life became active again in 1988 after another patient lent him a racing wheelchair.

Athletics career

Action shot of Smith (right)) on his way to winning gold in the 800 m T52 at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics

Smith waves to the crowd as he celebrates his gold medal in the 5000 m T52 at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics

Smith won a gold medal in the men's 4x100 m T1 at the World Championships and Games for the Disabled in Assen, Netherlands. He then began his long Paralympic career with a silver medal in the men's 4x100 m relay TW1–2, and bronze medals in the men's marathon TW2 and the men's 4x400 m relay TW1–2 at the 1992 Barcelona Games. He also competed in the men's 800 m, 1500 m and 5000 m TW2 events. In 1992, he held a scholarship with the Victorian Institute of Sport in athletics. That year, he finished fourth in the 10 km road race at the 1992 Oz Day race.

At the 1996 Atlanta Games, Smith won a silver medal in the men's 5000 m T51. He also competed in the men's 400 m, 1500 m and marathon in T51 events. for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia. He also competed in the men's marathon T52.

Wheelchair Rugby career

Smith playing wheelchair rugby at the 2012 London Paralympics

Smith wraps himself in the Australian Flag outside Cardiff Castle after the announcement that he will be the 2012 Australian Flag Bearer

The ceremony on 21 August where Smith was announced as 2012 Australian Flag Bearer for the Australian Paralympic Team

Smith retired from wheelchair athletics in 2002. After a two-year break, he took up wheelchair rugby socially and at the end of his first season he won the New South Wales State League Most Valuable Player Award and the National League Best New Talent. In 2006, he represented Australia for the first time in wheelchair rugby at the Canada Cup International Tournament. He was a member of the Australian mixed team that won the silver medal in wheelchair rugby at the 2008 Beijing Games . After Beijing, he retired as a player but continued as an assistant coach. He came out of retirement in 2010 and was re-selected to the Australian squad in 2011. and was part of the team that won the gold medal. He retired after the Games but still has an active interest in the sport.

Since 2018, he has been the Assistant Coach of the Australian Steelers.

Recognition

OAM, 2001
Australian Team Flag Bearer at 2012 Summer Paralympics
Honorary Doctorate, University of Ballarat, 2013

References

(1996). "Xth Paralympic Games Atlanta U.S.A. August 15–25 1996 : Australia : team handbook". Australian Paralympic Federation.
"Greg Smith Profile". Australian Paralympic Committee Website.
(1990). "World Championships and Games for the Disabled – Athletics Results". Organising Committee.
"Greg Smith". [[International Paralympic Committee]].
(1992). "Barcelona Paralympics 1992 : Australian team members profile handbook". Australian Paralympic Federation.
(2002). "Excellence : the Australian Institute of Sport". Australian Sports Commission.
(2010). "Australian Honour Roll". Australian Paralympic Committee.
"Smith, Gregory Stephen". It's an Honour.
Brine, Dominic. (11 September 2008). "Not just sitting on his bum". ABC Ballarat.
(30 August 2012). "Paralympians told to 'look up at the stars'". ABC News.
"Mixed Wheelchair Rugby – Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby". Official site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
(6 June 2013). "Dr Smith in a class of his own". Australian Paralympic Committee.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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