![]() Vernon at the 2024 Summer Paralympics | |||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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Nationality | Australian | ||||||||||||||
Born | 5 December 1988 36) | (age||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||
Country | Australia | ||||||||||||||
Sport | Wheelchair basketball | ||||||||||||||
Disability class | 0.5 (rugby) | ||||||||||||||
Club | University of Queensland Club | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Beau Vernon (born 5 December 1988) is an Australian wheelchair rugby player. He won a bronze medal with the Steelers at the 2024 Summer Paralympics. [1]
Vernon is from Phillip Island, Victoria. [2] In June 2012, at the age of 23, his head was hit during a game of Australian football at Leongatha, Victoria and this resulted in him becoming a quadriplegic. [3] He spent seven months Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Hospital in Kew, Melbourne. In 2023, he moved Sunshine Coast in Queensland with his wife Lucy and three – Layla, Joey and Ollie. [2] [4] He has completed a business degree at RMIT.
Prior to his football injury, he was a successful at state level athletics and basketball. [3] He was the youngest player in Gippsland Power’s TAC Cup 2005 premiership team, playing alongside Scott Pendlebury, Dale Thomas and Xavier Ellis. [3] In 2014, he was appointed coach of Leongatha Football Club in the Gippsland League and they went on to win the premiership in his third year of coaching. [3] He has also coached Phillip Island Seniors to two premierships. [2] [3]
He was introduced to wheelchair rugby through Australian Paralympian Nazem Erdem, a gold and silver medallist. [2] Vernon is a 0.5 player and is a member of the University of Queensland Rugby Club. He was a member of Steelers that won the 2024 WWR Paralympic Qualification Tournament, Wellington, New Zealand and has been selected for the 2024 Summer Paralympics. [5]
At the 2024 Summer Paralympics, he was a member of the Steelers that won the bronze medal defeating Great Britain 50–48. [6]