 2000 Australian Paralympic team portrait of Eden | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | John Desmond Eden | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 27 October 1955 Wellington, New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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John Desmond Eden (born 27 October 1955) is a leg-amputee athlete and Australian and New Zealand Paralympian.
Eden was born in Wellington, New Zealand and given up for adoption by his young parents. [1] Eden attended Matamata High School and left home at the age of 15. [1] He completed Year 12 certificate through night school while working during the day. [1] At this time his main focus was to become an All Blacks rugby player. [1] In 1976, he lost his right leg below the knee in a motorcycle accident. [1] The day before his accident, Eden was advised of his selection in the Junior All Blacks. [1] He continued to play rugby at senior club reserves level but two years later his right knee was seriously damaged and he underwent an amputation above the knee. [1] He met another amputee, Brian Portland who encouraged him to become New Zealand's first amputee Paralympian. [1] This was the start of a 20-year career in competitive Paralympic athletics. [1]
In 1994, Eden's fiancé Mandy was killed in a car accident. Mandy had played a large part in reuniting him with his birth parents. [1] Eden's father was a New Zealand representative in boxing, softball and rugby league. [1]
Eden won a silver medal in the Men's high jump C event at the 1980 Arnhem Games. He also competed in the Men's 100 m C, 400 m C and Men's Long Jump C athletics events, and the Men's 100 m Freestyle C-D – swimming event. [2] In 1982, he emigrated to Australia due to inadequate support to New Zealand Paralympic athletes. In 1984, he decided to turn his attention to the discus and stated I was not really tall enough (for the high jump) and lost a lot of natural spring after the second amputation. [1]
At the 1988 Seoul Paralympics, he competed for Australia and won a bronze medal in the Men's Discus A2A9 event. [2] At the 1990 World Championships and Games for the Disabled in Assen, Netherlands, he won a bronze medal in the men's discus 5F. [3]
In 1991, the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) established an Athletics with a Disability Program and he became an inaugural scholarship holder and was coached by Chris Nunn. [4] [5] In joining the AIS, Eden stated "Having this opportunity to train at the AIS has made all the difference and helped me improve immeasurably. And working with a coach like Chris increases my desire to continue with sport and, eventually to take up coaching myself". [6]
At the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics, he won a silver medal in the Men's Discus THS2 event and competed in the Men's Long Jump J1, Men's Shot Put THS2 and Men's Pentathlon PS3 events. [2]
He also competed in the 1994 IPC Athletics World Championships in Berlin, where he won a gold medal in discus and set a world record. [1]
Eden won a bronze medal in the Men's Discus F42 event at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics. [2]
His Paralympic Games career as a competitor finished at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics where he competed in the Men's Discus F42 and Men's 100 m T42 events. At the end of his Paralympic career in 2000, Eden said "I like competing; it is a nice way to meet people and it makes me feel normal. The Paralympics are the pinnacle for athletes like me and this is a very nice way to live my life". [7]
Eden's athletic ability was highlighted at the AIS in 1995, where in a resistance test he recorded the highest score. The test included able bodied throwers including John Minns, multiple Australian shot put champion. [1]
Eden's love of sport has continued through coaching at Frankston Athletics Club and the Victorian Institute of Sport. He has coached Paralympic bronze medallist Don Elgin [8] and Dale Stevenson, a bronze medalist at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. [9]
Eden is currently coaching Paralympic athletes Madeleine Hogan, [10] a world leading F46 javelin thrower, Charlotte Saville, [11] and Brydee Moore. [12] He was an athletics coach with the Australian team at the 2004 Athens Games [13] and 2008 Beijing Games. [14]
Stephen Robert Eaton, OAM is an Australian athlete with cerebral palsy from Toowoomba, Queensland who competes at the national and international level in discus throwing and shot put at events such as the Paralympic Games and IPC Athletics World Championships.
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Australia has competed in every Winter Paralympics. In 1976, the first Games, Australia's sole competitor was Ron Finneran, but he was not an official entrant. In 1980, Kyrra Grunnsund and Peter Rickards became the first official competitors, in alpine and cross-country skiing. The number of Australian athletes increased to three, five, five and six at the next four games, respectively, and all of the athletes were alpine skiers. The participation decreased to four in 1998 and climbed back up to six in 2002. Australia won its first Winter Paralympic medals in 1992, and has medalled at every games since then. All of the medals have been won in alpine skiing.
Donald "Don" James William Elgin is an Australian Paralympic amputee track and field athlete who won four medals at three Paralympics.
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.
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Fanie Lombaard is an athlete and Paralympian from South Africa competing in P42 pentathlon and F42 throwing events.
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Paralympics Australia (PA) previously called the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) (1998–2019) is the National Paralympic Committee in Australia for the Paralympic Games movement. It oversees the preparation and management of Australian teams that participate at the Summer Paralympics and the Winter Paralympics.
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Russell Luke Short, OAM is an Australian legally blind athlete, who has competed at eight Paralympics from 1988 to 2016 and won six gold, two silver and four bronze medals at the Games. He competes in discus, javelin, and shot put.
Hamish Anderson MacDonald, OAM is an Australian Paralympic athlete. He was born in Melbourne and lives in Canberra. He has cerebral palsy. His achievements and advocacy have made him one of Australia's most respected Paralympians.
Christopher John Nunn, OAM is an Australian athletics coach. He was the head coach of the Australian athletics team at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics.
Anton James Flavel, OAM is an Australian athlete with an intellectual disability. He was born in the Western Australian town of Narrogin. In his disability class he held a world record for the javelin and an Australian record in the shot put and high jump.
Fiji participated in the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from August 29 to September 9.
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.
Kelly Cartwright is an Australian athlete and powerlifter. She won two medals at the London 2012 Paralympics, and represented Australia in the Beijing 2008 Paralympics.
Brydee Moore is an Australian athlete with cerebral palsy that competes in the shot put, discus and javelin. She won a silver medal at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in athletics.
