Great Britain at the 1972 Summer Paralympics

Last updated
Great Britain at the
1972 Summer Paralympics
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
IPC code GBR
NPC British Paralympic Association
Website www.paralympics.org.uk
in Heidelberg
Competitors72 in 10 sports
Medals
Ranked 3rd
Gold
16
Silver
15
Bronze
21
Total
52
Summer Paralympics appearances (overview)

Great Britain sent a delegation to compete at the 1972 Summer Paralympics in Heidelberg, West Germany. Teams from the nation are referred to by International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as Great Britain despite athletes from the whole of the United Kingdom, including those from Northern Ireland, being eligible. [1] [2] They sent seventy two competitors, forty seven male and twenty five female. [3] The team won fifty-two medals—sixteen gold, fifteen silver and twenty-one bronze—to finish third in the medal table behind West Germany and the United States. [4] Philip Craven, the former President of the IPC, competed in athletics, swimming and wheelchair basketball for Great Britain at these Games. [5] [6] [7]

Contents

Disability classifications

Athletes at the Paralympics in 1972 were all afflicted by spinal cord injuries and required the use of a wheelchair. [8] This is in contrast to later Paralympics that include events for participants that fit into any of five different disability categories; amputation, either congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis. [9] [10] Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. [11]

Medalists

MedalNameSportEvent
Gold medal icon.svg Gold Barbara Howie Athletics Women's 60m wheelchair 3
Gold medal icon.svg Gold Carol Bryant Athletics Women's 60m wheelchair 4
Gold medal icon.svg Gold Carol Bryant
Pauline Dukelow
Barbara Howie
Marion O'Brien
Athletics Women's 4x40m wheelchair relay open
Gold medal icon.svg Gold Barbara Howie Athletics Women's slalom 3
Gold medal icon.svg Gold Marion O'Brien Athletics Women's pentathlon 5
Gold medal icon.svg GoldM. Cooper
Margaret Maughan
Dartchery Women's pairs open
Gold medal icon.svg Gold Gwen Buck
Irene Nowak
Lawn bowls Women's pairs
Gold medal icon.svg Gold Michael Shelton Snooker Men's paraplegic
Gold medal icon.svg GoldP. Haslam Snooker Men's tetraplegic
Gold medal icon.svg Gold Alan West Swimming Men's 25m backstroke 1A
Gold medal icon.svg Gold David Ellis Swimming Men's 25m breaststroke 2
Gold medal icon.svg Gold Carol Bryant Table tennis Women's singles 4
Gold medal icon.svg Gold Barbara Anderson
Jane Blackburn
Table tennis Women's doubles 1A-1B
Gold medal icon.svg GoldR. Rowe Weightlifting Men's light heavyweight
Gold medal icon.svg Gold Ron Parkin
Cyril Thomas
Terry Willett
Wheelchair fencing Men's sabre team
Gold medal icon.svg Gold Carol Bryant Wheelchair fencing Women's foil novice individual
Silver medal icon.svg SilverMargaret Gibbs Archery Women's FITA round open
Silver medal icon.svg Silver Barbara Anderson Archery Women's St. Nicholas round tetraplegic
Silver medal icon.svg Silver Barbara Anderson
Jane Blackburn
Tommy Taylor
Archery Mixed St. Nicholas round team tetraplegic
Silver medal icon.svg Silver Marion O'Brien Athletics Women's slalom 5
Silver medal icon.svg Silver John Ure Lawn bowls Men's singles
Silver medal icon.svg Silver Tom Guthrie
John Ure
Lawn bowls Men's pairs
Silver medal icon.svg SilverF. Nowak Lawn bowls Women's singles
Silver medal icon.svg Silver Alan West Swimming Men's 25m freestyle 1A
Silver medal icon.svg Silver Alan West Swimming Men's 25m breaststroke 1A
Silver medal icon.svg Silver William Thornton Swimming Men's 50m breaststroke 3
Silver medal icon.svg SilverMen's team Table tennis Men's teams 2
Silver medal icon.svg Silver Jane Blackburn Table tennis Women's singles 1B
Silver medal icon.svg Silver Janet Swann Table tennis Women's singles 3
Silver medal icon.svg SilverWomen's team Table tennis Women's teams 3
Silver medal icon.svg Silver Ron Parkin Wheelchair fencing Men's sabre individual
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze Jane Blackburn Archery Women's St. Nicholas round tetraplegic
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze Carol Bryant Athletics Women's pentathlon 4
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze Pamela Barnard Lawn bowls Women's singles
Bronze medal icon.svg BronzeMcGann Snooker Men's tetraplegic
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze Richard Bates Swimming Men's 50m backstroke 3
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze George Simpson Swimming Men's 100m backstroke 6
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze George Simpson Swimming Men's 100m breaststroke 6
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze William Thornton Swimming Men's 75m individual medley 3
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze Pauline Dukelow Swimming Women's 75m individual medley 3
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze Stephen Bradshaw Table tennis Men's singles 1B
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze George Monoghan Table tennis Men's singles 3
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze Paul Lyall Table tennis Men's singles 4
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze Stephen Bradshaw
Tommy Taylor
Table tennis Men's doubles 1B
Bronze medal icon.svg BronzeMen's team Table tennis Men's teams 4
Bronze medal icon.svg BronzeG. Matthews Table tennis Women's singles 2
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze Gwen Buck Table tennis Women's singles 3
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze Marion O'Brien Table tennis Women's singles 4
Bronze medal icon.svg BronzeWomen's team Table tennis Women's teams 2
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze Cyril Thomas Wheelchair fencing Men's épée individual
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze John Clark
Cyril Thomas
Terry Willett
Wheelchair fencing Men's épée team
Bronze medal icon.svg Bronze Sally Haynes
Janet Swann
P. Waller
Wheelchair fencing Women's foil team

Medals by sport

Medals by sport
Sport Gold medal icon.svg Silver medal icon.svg Bronze medal icon.svg Total
Athletics 5117
Table tennis 24915
Swimming 23510
Wheelchair Fencing 2136
Snooker 2013
Lawn Bowls 1315
Dartchery 1001
Weightlifting 1001
Archery 0314
Total16152152

Archery

Great Britain sent fifteen athletes to compete in archery at the Games; British archers won three silver medals and one bronze medal. [5] Anderson was Britain's most successful archer winning silver in the women's St. Nicholas round tetraplegic event and teaming up with Taylor and Jane Blackburn to win silver in the mixed St. Nicholas round team tetraplegic event. [12] [13] Margaret Maughan, who won Britain's first ever Paralympic gold medal during the 1960 Games, finished sixth in the women's FITA round open. [14] [15]

Athletics

Great Britain's thirty-two athletics competitors won seven medals in athletics. [5] Howie won two individual gold medals in women's wheelchair racing events and added a third gold in the 4×x40 m wheelchair relay. The winning relay team also included Carol Bryant who added an individual gold medal in wheelchair racing and a bronze in pentathlon. [5] Philip Craven, who 29-years later would become President of the IPC finished 24th in both of his athletics events. [5]

Dartchery

Great Britain entered two athletes in dartchery, Margaret Maughan and M. Cooper competed in the women's pairs event and won the gold medal. [5]

Lawn Bowls

Five British lawn bowls players competed in Heidelberg, each won at least one medal. [5] T. Ure won a silver medal in the men's singles and also won silver in the men's pairs alongside Guthrie. [5] In the women's events Barnard and F. Nowak won bronze and silver respectively in the singles; Nowak also teamed up with Gwen Buck to win the gold medal in the women's pairs. [5]

Snooker

Three British snooker players competed at the Games, each won a medal. [5] In the men's paraplegic event Michael Shelton won gold for the third consecutive Games. [16] In the men's tetraplegic event Great Britain won gold and bronze through Haslam and Mcgann respectively. [5]

Swimming

Twenty-three British athletes took part in swimming events at the Games winning ten medals, two gold, three silver and four bronze. [5] Three medals were won by A. West in men's 25 metres class 1A events, he took gold in backstroke and silvers in breaststroke and freestyle. [5] Philip Craven finished sixth in the men's 50 metres breaststroke class 3. [17]

Table tennis

Britain entered eighteen table tennis players and won fifteen medals, two gold, four silver and nine bronze. [5]

Weightlifting

Three British weightlifters competed in the 1972 Summer Paralympics winning one medal. In the men's light-heavyweight division R. Rowe won the gold medal with a lift of 175 kg, Alan Corrie finished sixth in the same event with his lift of 132.5 kg. [18]

Wheelchair basketball

Great Britain entered teams in both the men's and women's events. The women's team lost both their group matches and failed to advance to the medal rounds. [19] The men's team won three of their four group stage matches and advanced to the semifinals to face the United States. They lost the semifinal 36–52 and then lost the bronze medal playoff to Argentina meaning they finished in fourth place. [20]

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