 2000 Sydney Paralympics Portrait | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Gerrard James Gosens |
| Nationality |  Australian |
| Born | 3 February 1970 Melbourne, Victoria (Australia) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Goalball, Athletics, Paratriathlon |
Gerrard James Gosens OAM (born 3 February 1970) is a vision-impaired Australian Paralympic athlete, goalball player, triathlete, adventurer, chocolatier and motivational speaker.
Gosens was born on 3 February 1970 in Melbourne, Victoria. [1] He is congenitally blind and became Australia's youngest guide dog recipient at age sixteen. [2] At the age of eleven, his family moved to Yeppoon in Queensland and he attended Yeppoon State High School. [2] He has completed a Business Management degree at Queensland University of Technology (1992–1994) and Bachelor of Journalism at the University of Queensland (1994–1996). [2] From 1994 to 2002, he was employed by the Australian Paralympic Committee. He has been Deputy CEO for Royal Blind Foundation Queensland and worked for Vision Australia. [3] In 2019, he was forced to shut down his business 'Chocolate Moments' in Brisbane due to the disruption caused by the Cross River Rail project. [4]
He married Heather in 1993 and they have two children, son Jordan and daughter Taylor. [5] Taylor was born with his congenital eyesight condition, and has just four per cent vision. [6]
Gosens encourages others with the saying "Every one of us have some sort of obstacle to overcome, instead of letting them getting in the way, we should learn to take advantage of any opportunities we come across". [7]
Gosens is classified as a T11 athlete. Gosens competed at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics in goalball. At the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, he competed with guides Bill Hunter and Ed Salmon in three running events – sixth in Men's 5000 m T11, sixth in the Men's 10000 m T11 and eight in the Men's Marathon T11. At the 2002 IPC Athletics World Championships, Lille, France, he finished fourth in the Men's 1500 m T11 and sixth in the Men's 5000 m T11. At the 2006 IPC Athletics World Championships, Assen, Netherlands, he finished fifth in the Men's 1500 m T11. At the 2008 Beijing Paralympics with guide Bruce Jones, he finished sixth in the Men's 1500 m T11. At the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships, Christchurch, New Zealand, he finished fourth in his heat of the Men's 1500 m T11 and was ranked fourth. He was disqualified in his heat of the Men's 5000 m T11.
In 2016, Gosens took up triathlon as a result of using swimming as rehabilitation for an injured knee. [8] He is classified as a B1 paratriathlete. He has the goal of competing in paratriathlon at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. In 2019, Gosens was caught up in a doping scandal after his guide Stephen Thompson tested positive to EPO at the 2018 ITU World Championships, Gold Coast, Queensland. Gosens competed with Thompson two days after Thompson won the silver medal at the World Championships 35 to 39 age group race. Gosens was disqualified due to Thompson's EPO test because he was his guide. [9] [10]
At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England with guide Hayden Armstrong, finished 6th in the Men's PTVI. [11]
In 2005, his attempt to conquer Mount Everest ended when he fell down a crevasse his guide forgot to tell him about. He had reached the third camp of Mount Everest, which stands at 7,300 metres (24,000 ft) high. [12] [7] He has co-piloted an ultra-light motor glider around Queensland three times. Gosens has run the 2,000 kilometres from Cairns to Brisbane five times to raise money for charity. [13]
In 2009, he became the first contestant with a visual impairment to compete on the Australian television program Dancing with the Stars , competing during the ninth season. His partner was Jessica Raffa and they were the eighth partnership eliminated. His participation raised funds for Vision Australia. [14] Gosens has raised over A$2 million worth in services and funds for the 120 000 blind people in Australia. [7]
Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. Participants compete in teams of three, and try to throw a ball that has bells embedded inside of it into the opponents' goal. The ball is thrown by hand and never kicked. Using ear-hand coordination, originating as a rehabilitation exercise, the sport has no able-bodied equivalent. Able-bodied athletes are also blindfolded when playing this sport.
Blind Sports Australia, formerly the Australian Blind Sports Federation (ABSF) was formed in 1980 as the national body to coordinate sport for the blind and vision-impaired in Australia. It encourages and provides access to international competition in world blind and multi-disabled championships for sports recognised by the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). BSA is headquartered near Melbourne.
Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. Australia commenced its involvement in the sport in 1980. Its men's team has completed in trans-Tasman competitions, the IBSA World Goalball Championships, and the Paralympic Games.
Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. Australia commenced its involvement in the sport in 1980. Its women's team has completed in trans-Tasman competitions, the IBSA World Goalball Championships, and the Paralympic Games.
Jeremy McClure is an Australian swimmer, triathlete and motivational speaker. He competed at four Paralympics - 2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing, 2012 London and 2016 Rio.
B1 is a medical-based Paralympic classification for blind sport. Athletes in this classification are totally or almost totally blind. It is used by a number of blind sports including blind tennis, para-alpine skiing, para-Nordic skiing, blind cricket, blind golf, five-a-side football, goalball and judo. Some other sports, including adaptive rowing, athletics and swimming, have equivalents to this class.
Margaret Booth is an Australian vision-impaired Paralympic Games athletics and goalball competitor.
Great Britain women's national goalball team is the women's national team of Great Britain. Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. It takes part in international goalball competitions.
Egypt women's national goalball team is the women's national team of Egypt. Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. The team takes part in international goalball competitions.
Kathleen Margaret "Katie" Kelly is an Australian paratriathlete, who has a degenerative disease known as Usher syndrome. Kelly began competing in the PT5 paratriathlon classification in February 2015 when her condition deteriorated to a legally blind state. She has just 30 per cent of her vision. With her guide Michellie Jones, Kelly won gold medals at the 2015 and 2017 ITU World Championships and 2016 Rio Paralympics. She competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Katja Dedekind is an Australian Paralympic vision-impaired swimmer and goalball player. She won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games and two bronze medals at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
Nic Beveridge is an elite Australian triathlete with a disability. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics when Triathlon made its debut at the Games and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. He represented Australia at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games where he won a silver medal.
Raissa Martin is an Australian goalball player who represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
David Brown is a visually impaired American sprint runner. He competed over 100–400 m distances at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympics and 2013 and 2015 world championships and won the 100 m event in 2015 and 2016. He currently holds the world record in the 100 m and 200 m run for the T11 class – being the first totally blind athlete to run 100 m within 11 seconds – as well as the paralympic record in the 100 run.
Algerian men's national goalball team is the men's national team of Algeria. Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. The team takes part in international goalball competitions.
Ched Towns was a vision-impaired Australian Paralympic athlete, triathlete and adventurer.
Japan men's national goalball team is the men's national team of Japan. Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. Its men's team has internationally completed including at the IBSA World Goalball Championships and the Paralympic Games.
Lithuania men's national goalball team is the men's national team of Lithuania. Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. It takes part in international competitions.
Jonathan Goerlach is an elite Australian triathlete with a disability. He represented Australia at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Paul David Harpur is an Australian twice-Paralympian as an athlete with a vision impairment, a lawyer, and university associate professor. He is known for his expertise in anti-discrimination laws, human rights, labour laws and work health and safety laws.
