 Action shot of Ball during 2000 Summer Paralympics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gregory Ian Ball | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 29 May 1974 Ipswich, Queensland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gregory "Greg" Ian Ball, OAM [1] (born 29 May 1974) [2] is an Australian Paralympic cyclist.
Ball was born in Ipswich, Queensland on 29 May 1974, [2] and was diagnosed with transverse myelitis. [3]
Ball first competed for Australia in 1998, winning and breaking the world record in the 1 km time trial at the World Titles in that year. [3] He won a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Games in the mixed Olympic Sprint LC1–3 event, [4] for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia. [1] In 2002, he once again won the 1 km time trial event at the World Titles. [3] At the 2004 Athens Games, he won two gold medals in the Men's 1 km Time Trial Bicycle LC1–4 and Men's Team Sprint LC1–4/CP 3/4 events. [4] At the 2008 Beijing Games, he won a bronze medal in the Men's 1 km Time Trial LC3–4 event. [4]
On 4 February 2011, he broke a world record in the C1 men's 1 km time trial at the Scody Cycling Australia Track National Championships; it was the fastest time since a change in the classification system in 2010. [5] He voluntarily took a drug test to ensure the validation of his record, and tested positive for the banned substance stanozolol, an anabolic steroid. [6] He was provisionally suspended on 9 March 2011, and on 26 October 2011, the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) announced that it had acknowledged the two-year ban imposed on Ball by Cycling Australia, backdated to the date of the provisional suspension. [7] The ban prevented him from participating in the 2012 London Paralympics. [7] He was also ordered to pay back $27,500 in grants to the Australian Sports Commission, and was stripped of his February 2011 world record. [7] Ball said that taking the steroids was an honest mistake that had devastated him. In his submission to ASADA, he said that he had been suffering depression for the previous twelve months and admitted that he had taken "up to four tablets, the name and exact constituents of which he did not know at the time (and still does not know), obtained from a close friend"; he said that he believed the tablets were vitamins that would help him to recover from depression. [6]
James “Martin” Vinnicombe is a former professional Australian track cyclist who competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, winning a silver medal in 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) time trial. He tested positive for steroids in 1991, but accusations were overturned and Vinnicombe received $240,000 in compensation for false allegations in defamation. His former manager, Phill Bates, told the Sydney Morning Herald in 1996: "If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying." At 22 years of age, Vinnicombe won the world championship in 1 km (0.62 mi) time trial in 1987, being the first ever Australian to become world champion, He also won the silver medal three times and the bronze medal once (1985). Vinnicombe has placed 9 times at the world championships in 1,000m time trial event.
Kieran John Modra was an Australian Paralympic swimmer and tandem cyclist. He won five gold and five bronze medals at eight Paralympic Games from 1988 to 2016, along with two silver medals at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Christopher Ian Scott, OAM is a former Australian Paralympic cyclist. He has won ten medals at six Games from 1988 to 2008.
Dame Sarah Joanne Storey, is a British Paralympic athlete in cycling and swimming, and a multiple gold medalist in the Paralympic Games, and six times British (able-bodied) national track champion. Her total of 28 Paralympic medals including 17 gold medals makes her the most successful and most decorated British Paralympian of all time as well as one of the most decorated Paralympic athletes of all time. She has the unique distinction of winning five gold medals in Paralympics before turning 19.
Matthew Douglas Gray, OAM(born 20 December 1977) is an Australian Paralympic cyclist. He was born in Perth. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, he won a silver medal in the Mixed Omnium LC1 event. He won two gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Games in the Mixed 1 km Time Trial LC1 and Mixed Olympic Sprint LC1–3 events, for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia. He broke a world record in the former event.
Peter David Homann, OAM is a former Australian Paralympic cyclist. He has won seven medals at three Games from 1996 to 2004.
Peter Graham Brooks, OAM is an Australian Paralympic cyclist. He was born in Sydney, New South Wales. At the 2004 Athens Games, he won two gold medals in the Men's Individual Pursuit Bicycle LC1 and Men's Team Sprint LC1–4/CP 3/4 events, for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia, and a bronze medal in the Men's Road Race / Time Trial Bicycle LC1 event.
Michael Thomas Gallagher, OAM is an Australian Paralympic cyclist from Scotland. He has won gold medals at the Beijing and 2012 London Paralympics. He was selected in the Australian team for the 2016 Rio Paralympics. The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency (ASADA) revealed that Gallagher had returned a positive A sample for erythropoietin (EPO) in an out-of-competition training camp in Italy in July 2016. This A positive disqualified him from the Rio Paralympics.
LC3 is a para-cycling classification for riders with a handicap in one lower limb who will usually pedal with one leg only.
LC2 is a para-cycling classification.
LC1 is a para-cycling classification. It includes a number of types of people with disabilities including people with amputation and spinal cord injuries that are mostly confined to the upper limbs. This class includes people from the ISOD A5 class, A6 class, A7 class and A8 class.
David Nicholas, is an Australian cyclist. He won silver and gold medals at the 2012 London Paralympics and a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Cycling has been contested at the Summer Paralympic Games since 1984. Australia first competed at the Seoul Games and won its first cycling medals at the Atlanta Games. Australia was the number one ranked nation at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Games.
Scott Matthew McPhee, is an Australian cyclist, who piloted Kieran Modra in tandem cycling. He won a gold medal with Modra at the 2012 London Paralympics.
Neil Michael Fachie is a Scottish cyclist and former track athlete, competing in events for people with a visual impairment. Fachie has competed in two Paralympics, as a sprinter in the 2008 Games in Beijing and as a tandem cyclist in London 2012. In London he won the gold medal in the Men's individual 1 km time trial and silver in the individual sprint, both with Barney Storey as his sighted pilot. Outside of the Paralympic Games, Fachie is a nineteen-time world champion and 5 times Commonwealth Games champion, creating tandem partnerships with Barney Storey, Pete Mitchell, and Olympians Craig MacLean and Matt Rotherham.
Alfonso Cabello Llamas is a Spanish Paralympic cyclist. Representing Spain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, Cabello won a gold medal in the men's 1 km time trial C4–5 at the 2012 and 2020 Summer Paralympics, taking the current world record in the latter.
The Men's combined road race / time trial cycling events at the 2004 Summer Paralympics were held at Vouliagmeni between 24 & 27 September.
Men's 1 km time trial track cycling events at the 2004 Summer Paralympics were held at the Olympic Velodrome between 18 & 22 September.
Shayna Jack is an Australian swimmer. She competed at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships, where she won two silver and two bronze medals in the relay events.
James Brown is a former Northern Irish paralympic-cyclist, who competed for Great Britain, Ireland, and Northern Ireland. He is visually impaired and participated in five Paralympic Games in various sports. Brown earned two gold medals at the 1984 Summer Paralympics in athletics and a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in the men's road time trial with sighted pilot Damien Shaw.
