 Portrait of Australian Paralympic swimmer McClure in 2012 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Jeremy McClure |
| Nationality |  Australia |
| Born | 25 May 1987 Perth, Western Australia |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Swimming |
| Strokes | Freestyle, butterfly, medley |
| Classifications | S11 |
| Club | Riverton Aquanauts |
| Coach | Mel Tantrum |
Jeremy McClure (born 25 May 1987) is an Australian swimmer, triathlete and motivational speaker. He competed at four Paralympics - 2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing, 2012 London and 2016 Rio. [1]
McClure was born on 25 May 1987 in Perth, Western Australia and is from Bull Creek, Western Australia. [2] He was diagnosed with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy when he was fifteen years old [3] and lost most of his sight. [4] [5] He uses a guide dog [6] named Nina as he only has about two percent of available vision. [5] In 2006, he participated in the Commonwealth Games torch relay. [3] In 2010, he won a Pride of Australia award. [4] He works as a motivational speaker, and given a speeches to schools in Western Australia and to the West Coast Eagles. [3] As of 2016 [update] , he also works as a part-time remedial massage therapist. [2]
McClure is an S11 classified swimmer, [2] [7] and is a member of South Shore Swimming Club. [8] He started swimming in 2002 [2] and competitively in May 2003. [3]
McClure competed at the 2004 Summer Paralympics, finishing sixth in the 100 metre backstroke. He competed at his second Paralympics in 2008, finishing seventh in the 100 metre backstroke. [3] [4] [5] He was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in swimming. [7] [9] Going into the 2012 Games, he was ranked fifth in the 100 metre backstroke event, fourth in the 50 metre breaststroke and third in the 50 metre backstroke event. [2] He did not medal at the 2012 Games and his best result was eighth in 100 metre backstroke [2] [10]
At the 2016 Australian Swimming Championships in Adelaide, he set a new world record of 32.22 in the Men's S11 50m backstroke. [1]
At the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, McClure placed fifth in the Men's 100m Backstroke S11. He also competed in Men's 50m Freestyle S11 and Men's 100m Freestyle S11. [11] In preparation for Rio, McClure stated: “I’m definitely confident I can drop that time but breaking the record all depends how much I can drop it by. The ultimate goal is to win gold and break the record but I’d love to just get any medal at this point really.” [12]
In early 2022 he became the first person to swim from Dirk Hartog Island to the town of Denham and he became the first person to swim the 60 kilometres (37 mi) from the Abrolhos Islands to the city of Geraldton in September 2022. [13]
In 2011, McClure competed in his first triathlon when he took part in the Ironman 70.3 Busselton, finishing the event in 5:03:43. [14] He required sighted guides to assist him on the course. They were Stewart Collingwood for the 1.9 km swim, Frans Buissink for 90 km cycle component and Craig Andrew for the 21 km run. He participated in the event in order to raise money for Guide Dogs Western Australia. [5] His performance in the race earned him Triathlon Western Australia's Paul Goodwin Award. [15] He has also raced in a number of other triathlons, including Busselton 70.3 in 2012.
He qualified to represent Australia in the sprint-distance 2013 ITU Paratriathlon World Championships in London, where he placed 8th in the TRI6a classification for blind athletes. [16] In January 2014, he won the TRI6a class at the 2014 OTU Oceania Championships in Penrith. [17] Reclassified TRI6b, he placed second in the Elwood ITU World Paratriathlon event. [18]
A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the disciplines included. The word is of Greek origin, from τρεῖς or treis (three) and ἆθλος or athlos (competition).
Michellie Yvonne Jones is an Australian triathlete. She has won two ITU Triathlon World Championships, an Olympic silver medal, and the 2006 Ironman World Championship. She won a gold medal at the 2016 Summer Paralympics as a guide for Katie Kelly, when paratriathlon made its debut at the Paralympics.
Melissa Stockwell is an American two-time Paralympic triathlete, swimmer and former U.S. Army officer. Competing in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in three swimming events, she returned to race in the 2016 Paralympic Games and won a bronze medal in the inaugural triathlon event on September 11, 2016.
Miriam Sheppard is a former New Zealand athlete. She was the 2009 ITU Paratriathlon World Champion in TRI3 classification. In addition, she represented New Zealand at the 2004 Summer Paralympic Games. in Athens, Greece, in swimming, as well as at the 2005 CPISRA World Games – in both swimming and track & field. Jenkins is affected by mild cerebral palsy in her left side.
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John Alexander Maclean, OAM is an Australian triathlete, rower, and motivational speaker. A promising rugby league player in his youth, he became a paraplegic after being knocked from his bicycle by a truck in 1988. He subsequently became the first paraplegic to finish the Ironman World Championship and the first to swim the English Channel. Later, he was part of the athletics team at both the Olympics and Paralympics in 2000, and won a silver medal in rowing at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. In 2014, he completed the Nepean Triathlon without using a wheelchair, after regaining some use of his legs through Ware K Tremor therapy. He is the founder of the John Maclean Foundation, which assists wheelchair users under the age of 18. As a motivational speaker, his clients have included eBay and Pfizer.
Para triathlon is a variant of the triathlon for athletes with a physical disability. The sport is governed by World Triathlon (TRI), and was first held as a Paralympic event at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Jack Swift is an Australian athletics competitor and paratriathlete. He was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in athletics in the 400m and 4 × 100 m events.
Paratriathlon classification is the classification system for athletes participating in paratriathlon. It is governed by the World Triathlon The sport has been included in the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
Claire Cashmore, is a Paralympic Swimming Champion and PTS5 classified British paratriathlete. She has been to four Paralympic Games with swimming and has won 4 bronze, 3 silver, and 1 gold medal. Cashmore also broke the world record in the SM9 100m Individual Medley in 2009. She decided to switch to competing in paratriathlon after winning gold and silver at the Paralympic Games in 2016, and became ITU World Champion in the PTS5 classification in 2019. Claire Cashmore is based in Loughborough, England. She was born in Redditch, England, without a left forearm.
Bill Chaffey is an Australian paratriathlete who won his fifth world championship in 2015. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics when paratriathlon made its debut at the Paralympics.
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Brant Garvey is an Australian leg amputee paratriathlete. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics when paratriathlon made its debut at the Paralympics.
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.
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George Peasgood is a British paratriathlete who competes in the PTS5 classification. He represented Great Britain at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, where he finished seventh. Peasgood has won the GBR Paratriathlon National Championships four times- 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019. George Peasgood is based in Loughborough, England where he trains at the Loughborough Performance Centre. He was born in Saffron Walden, Essex.
