 2016 Australian Paralympic team portrait | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality |  Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 18 August 1995 Maroubra, New South Wales, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Boccia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability class | BC3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Daniel Michel (born 18 August 1995) is an Australian boccia player. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. He won the bronze medal in the Mixed B3 at the Tokyo Paralympics. [1]
Michel was born on 18 August 1995 in the eastern Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, before his family relocated to the Sutherland Shire in the early 2000s. [2] His mother is of Dutch origin, having been born in The Netherlands and immigrating to Australia in the early 1990s, whilst his father is Australian. He was born with spinal muscular atrophy which means he has minimal movement and strength throughout his body. [3] Daniel attended Heathcote High School and graduated in 2013.
Michel was introduced to boccia as a 15 year old through a Muscular Dystrophy NSW camp. He is classified as a BC3 athlete. [3] [4] He came third in his first junior titles and this gave him the encouragement to increase his training. [3] This led to him winning the junior title at his second attempt. [3] Michel was then selected in an Australian Paralympic Committee Paralympic Preparation Program for the Rio Games. [3] His first international competition was at the 2013 Asia and Oceania Championships where he finished fifth and attained a world ranking of 35. [3] [4] At the 2014 World Championships in Beijing, China, he finished 36th. [3] He finished sixth at the 2016 Boccia Individual World Championships. [5] In 2016, he was a New South Wales Institute of Sport scholarship holder and is coached by Australian head coach Ken Halliday. [5] He was selected to represent Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, becoming the first Australian player selected to compete at the Paralympics since 2000. [5]
Michel on his Rio Paralympics selection stated" [5]
I'm hoping it's going to have a huge impact on the sport and on the reputation and perception of people with severe disabilities. The overriding public perception surrounding severe disabilities is that people living with these disabilities aren't really capable of succeeding in a sporting atmosphere. There's an emphasis on being successful through academia, but sport is never really promoted as an avenue through which people with severe physical disabilities can achieve enjoyment and also success.
At the Rio Games, Michel won his first pool match in the Mixed individual BC3 but lost his second and did not advance. [6]
Michel won the bronze medal in the Individual BC3 at the 2018 World Championships, Liverpool, England. [7] He teamed with Spencer Cotie and Cal Simpson to win the silver medal in Mixed Pairs BC3.
As of February 2020, Michel is a 4 × World Open champion and has a world ranking of 4.
At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, Michel won two of his three Pool Matches and qualified for the Quarterfinals. Here he beat Hansoo Kim of Korea 8–0. In the semifinals he lost to Adam Peska of the Czech Republic 3–4. Michel went on to beat Scott McCowan of Great Britain 6–1 in the bronze medal playoff. By doing so, Michel won Australia's first individual medal for boccia by winning the bronze medal in the Mixed BC3. Australia's previous boccia medal was in the Pairs C1 at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics. [8] He teamed with Spencer Cotie and Jamieson Leeson in the Mixed Pairs BC3, where they won 2 and lost 2 matches but failed to qualify for the quarter-finals.
Michel won the two gold medals at the 2022 World Championships in Rio de Janeiro - Men's BC3 and Mixed Pairs BC3. He defeated José Gonçalves 5–1 in the final of the Men's BC3. [9]
His ramp assistant is Ashlee McClure.
In 2023, Michel with Jamieson Leeson was awarded the Sport NSW Team of the Year with a Disability [10] and Australian Institute of Sport Performance Awards Team of the Year. [11]
Daniel Fitzgibbon, is an Australian Paralympic sailor, who won a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. He won gold medals at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Paralympics with partner Liesl Tesch in the two person SKUD 18.
BC3 is a Paralympic boccia classification. The class is open to people with several different types of disabilities, including cerebral palsy. BC3 players have events open to them in boccia on the Paralympic Games program.
BC4 is a Paralympic boccia classification.
Grigorios Polychronidis (Greek: Γρηγόρης Πολυχρονίδης) is a Greek boccia player with a Paralympic boccia classification of BC3. His specific disability is Spinal Muscular Atrophy.
Stephen McGuire is a Scottish Boccia player.
Australia competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. Australia repeated its 2012 Summer Paralympics achievement in finishing fifth of the medal tally.
Boccia at the 2016 Summer Paralympics was held in Riocentro, in the Barra district of Rio de Janeiro in September 2016, with a maximum of 104 athletes competing in seven events. The programme consisted of four individual events, two pairs events, and one team event, spread across four classifications.
Timothy Hodge is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2016 and the 2020 Summer Paralympics, where he won two silver and one bronze medals.
China has qualified to send athletes to the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016. Sports China competed in include blind football, archery, boccia, cycling, goalball, judo, paracanoeing, sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball.
South Korea competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016.
Slovakia competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016.
Belgium competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016.
Singapore competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016.
Boccia was the first cerebral palsy sport to be added to the Paralympic program in the 1984 Summer Paralympics.
Boccia at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, took place at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre. There were expected to be 116 qualification slots across eight mixed events: four individual events, two pairs events and one team event.
Spencer Cotie is an Australian boccia player. He represented Australia at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Jamieson Leeson is an Australian boccia player. She represented Australia at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Evelyn Vieira de Oliveira is a Brazilian Paralympic boccia player.
Evani Soares da Silva Calado is a Brazilian Paralympic boccia player. She won a gold medal at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, in bocce BC3 mixed doubles, with Antônio Leme and Evelyn de Oliveira.
Kirsten De Laender is a Belgian Paralympian. Her first Paralympics was London 2012, where she won a bronze medal in boccia for mixed pairs BC3. De Laender also competed in the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
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