 Thrupp competing in the 100 m T37 final at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Darren Brian Thrupp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 6 December 1966 (age 56) Kilcoy, Queensland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Darren Brian Thrupp, OAM [1] (born 6 December 1966) [2] [3] is an Australian Paralympic athlete competing mainly in category T37 sprint events. He has won nine medals at six Paralympics.
Thrupp was born in the Queensland town of Kilcoy. [2] He acquired a brain injury in a car accident on a dusty Queensland road in February 1985 on the way home from a cricket match against Surat. [4] The accident affected the right side of his body, in a way similar to hemiplegic cerebral palsy. [5] Before the accident, like many young men from country Queensland, he was involved in running, cricket and playing A-grade rugby league for the Wallumbilla Herefords. He was looking forward to a rugby league career. [4] The people of Roma encouraged him to take up athletics. In 1987, he attended a Sporting Wheelies "come and try" day and his times qualified him for the 1988 Seoul Games. [4] His confidence was also assisted by being offered at job at the Roma Railway Station freight shed. [5]
Thrupp has highlighted the tremendous support of the country people of Wallumbilla and Roma in his rehabilitation and their financial support to allow him to attend many international competitions. In 1989, the community raised $6,000 to allow him to compete in a major competition Japan. He credits this support for assisting him to win a gold medal at 1992 Barcelona Games [4]
During his career, Thrupp has trained on his own in the bush around Wallumbilla. [4] His coaches have been in Brisbane. These have included Jo Hogan [5] and since 2001 Gary Bourne. [4] From 1994 to 1995, he had both an Australian Institute of Sport Athletics with a Disability non-residential scholarship [6] and a Queensland Academy of Sport scholarship.[ citation needed ]
Thrupp has competed at six Paralympics. [7] His first Games were the 1988 Seoul Paralympics, where he competed in three events – 100 m, 200 m and 400 m C8 events. Thrupp stated "I have to admit that I was completely overawed by the Paralympics in Seoul. There I was a bloke from outback Queensland, running in front of 100,000 people, so in my event I ran too hard early on and missed out".[ citation needed ]
In the 1992 Barcelona Games, he won a gold medal in the men's long jump C7–8, for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia. [1] He also competed in the men's 100 m, 200 m and 400 m C8 events. [7] Thrupp followed this up in the 1996 Atlanta Games with a men's long jump F34–37 gold and a bronze in the 200 m T37. [7] In 2000, he received an Australian Sports Medal. [8] That year, in the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, he was a part of the winning men's 4x100 m and 4x400 m T35–38 relay teams. At these Games, he also competed in the men's 100 m, 200 m and 400 m T38 events. [7] At the 2004 Athens Games, he won gold in the men's 4x100 m T35–38 and bronze medals in the men's 100 m T37 and long jump T36–38. [7] His sixth appearance in the 2008 Beijing Games led to a third successive men's 4x100 m relay gold medal. [7] He also competed in the men's 100 m T37 and men's long jump F37/38. [9]
At the World Championships and Games for the Disabled in Assen, Netherlands, he won a gold medal in the men's long jump C8 event and a silver medal in the men's 100 m C8 event. [10]
He has competed at the 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006 IPC Athletics World Championships. In 2002, he won gold medals in the men's 4x100 m T35–38 and men's 4x400 m T35–38 events. In 2006, he won gold medals in the men's long jump F37 and men's 4x100 mT35–38 events and bronze in the men's 100 m T37 event. [9]
At the CPISRA World Championships in 2001, he won the men's long jump event and received a bronze medal in the 100 m event. [9]
Besides the Medal of the Order of Australia and Australian Sports Medal, Thrupp has been awarded the Maranoa District Sportsman of the Century as well as the Darling Downs Sportsman of the Year. [9] Thrupp's advice is "If I was to say anything to people with a disability it would be just to get up and have a go, to keep fighting and have plenty of strength". [5]
Timothy ("Tim") Francis Sullivan, OAM is an Australian Paralympic athlete.
Evan George O'Hanlon, is an Australian Paralympic athlete, who competes mainly in category T38 sprint events. He has won five gold medals at two Paralympic Games – 2008 Beijing and 2012 London. He also represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, winning a silver medal and a bronze medal respectively. In winning the bronze medal in the Men's 100m T38 at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, O'Hanlon became Australia's most successful male athlete with a disability. His bronze medal took him to 12 medals in five world championships – one more than four-time Paralympian Neil Fuller.
Richard Andrew Colman is an Australian Paralympic athlete, competing mainly in category T53 sprint events. He was born with spina bifida. He represented Australia at the four Paralympics - 2004 to 2016.
Mohamed Farhat Chida is a Paralympic athlete from Tunisia competing mainly in category T38 sprint events.
Tunisia made its Paralympic Games debut at the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul. It was represented by a single athlete, Monaam Elabed, who won two bronze medals in athletics. The country has competed in every subsequent edition of the Summer Paralympics, although it has never taken part in the Winter Paralympics. Tunisian competitors have only ever taken part in athletics events, with the sole exception of Dalila Tabai who competed in powerlifting in 2000.
The 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships was held in Christchurch, New Zealand from January 21 to 30, 2011. Athletes with a disability competed, and the Championships was a qualifying event for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
Australia competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Games in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012. The London Games were the biggest Games with 164 nations participating, 19 more than in the 2008 Beijing Paralympic. Australia has participated at every Summer Paralympic Games and hosted the 2000 Sydney Games. As such, the 2000 Sydney Games, regarded as one of the more successful Games, became a point-of-reference and an inspiration in the development of the 2012 London Games.
The 1996 Summer Paralympics were held in the United States city of Atlanta. Australia competed in 13 of the 17 sports, winning medals in 10 of those sports. At the 1996 Summer Paralympics, Australia had the second highest medal tally of any country competing. It won 42 gold, 37 silver and 27 bronze medals. It surpassed the 24 gold medals that Australia won at the 1992 Paralympics. The sports of athletics, swimming and cycling provided Australia with the majority of its medals.
Brenden Hall, is an Australian Paralympic amputee swimmer who won two gold medals at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics where he won one gold, one silver and one bronze medal. He competed at 2020 Summer Paralympics, his fourth games.
Australia competed at the 1980 Summer Paralympics in Arnhem, Netherlands. It was the 6th Summer Paralympic Games in which Australia had competed. These Games were the biggest Paralympics yet, with 1,973 people participating. Of those participants, 57 were Australian. The team was made up of 45 men and 12 women, and was Australia's largest team to compete at any Paralympic Games so far.
Gregory Stephen Smith, OAM 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.
Alan Rex Dufty is an Australian Paralympic athlete who won twelve medals at three Paralympics from 1984 to 1992.
Rodney Francis Nugent, OAM is an Australian Paralympic athlete.
Matthew Cameron is an Australian Paralympic athletics competitor. He competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics, he won a bronze medal.
Rheed McCracken is an Australian Paralympic athletics competitor. He named the 2012 Junior Athlete of the Year as part of the Australian Paralympian of the Year Awards. He represented Australia at the 2012 London Paralympics, 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, where he won three silver and two bronze medals.
Jodi Elkington-Jones is Australian athlete who has cerebral palsy. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and has also competed in two Commonwealth Games, winning gold in the 2014 Games in the F37/38 long jump. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in athletics.
The 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships was the biggest track and field competition for athletes with a disability since the 2012 Summer Paralympics. It was held in Lyon, France, and lasted from 20 to 28 July. Around 1,100 athletes competed, from 94 different countries. The event was held in the Stade du Rhône located at the Parc de Parilly in Vénissieux, in Lyon Metropolis.
Brayden Duane Davidson is an Australian track and field para-athlete who competes mainly in the T36 classification events. He won a bronze medal at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he won the gold medal in the Men's Long Jump T36.
Ella Azura Pardy is an Australian Paralympic athlete who competes in the T38 100m, 200m and long jump. She represented Australia at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in long jump and the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in athletics where she won a bronze medal and the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Samuel Harrison Carter is a Paralympic athlete, who competes in 100m, 200m, 400m T54 events. He has represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
