100m (T42): gold – 2007 IWASWorld Wheelchair and Amputee Games; silver – 2007 Visa Paralympic World Cup; silver – 2006 IPC World C'ships 200m (T42): gold – 2007 IWAS World Wheelchair and Amputee Games; gold – 2007 Visa Paralympic World Cup; bronze – 2006 IPC World C'ships; bronze – 2005 IPC Open European C'ships
John McFall (born 25 April 1981) is a British Paralympicsprinter, surgeon, and ESA Project astronaut. In November 2022, he was selected by the European Space Agency to become the first "parastronaut". ESA will do a feasibility study on him flying to space and what needs to be adapted for disabled people.[5]
In 2000, when he was 19 years old, his right leg was amputated above the knee following a serious motorcycle accident. He took up running again after being fitted with a prosthesis, and participated in his first race in 2004. The following year, he was selected to represent Great Britain at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) European Championships, and took the bronze medal in the 200metres (sport class T42).
In the 100-metre sprint, McFall subsequently won silver medals at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Championships in 2006 and the Visa Paralympic World Cup in 2007. On 6 July 2007, he was placed third at the Meeting Gaz de France in Paris, part of the ÅF Golden League; and achieved his personal best time (as at 30 May 2008) in the 100metres of 12.70seconds by winning silver at the Bayer International Track and Field Competition in Leverkusen on 10 August of that year. In his other main event, the 200metres, he achieved a bronze in the 2006 IPC World Championships, and a gold at the 2007 Visa Paralympic World Cup with a competition record time of 26.84seconds. In September 2007, McFall was champion in both the 100metres and 200metres at the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) World Wheelchair and Amputee Games. He was ranked first in the world in 2007 for the 200metres, and second for the 100metres.
McFall, who has been called one of the fastest men in the world over 100metres and 200metres in the class of above-the-knee amputees, competed for Great Britain in the 100metres (T42) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, winning the bronze in a time of 13.08seconds.
In 2014, McFall graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the Cardiff University School of Medicine. In 2016, he became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons. Between 2016 and 2018, he completed Core Surgical Training covering General Surgery, Urology and Trauma and Orthopaedics in the Wessex Deanery of Health Education England. He is currently a Trauma and Orthopaedic Specialist Registrar.[5]
On 23 November 2022, John McFall was selected to be the first ESA parastronaut.[6]
Early years and education
John McFall was born on 25 April 1981[7] in Frimley, Surrey,[8][9] in England. Between 1994 and 1997, he attended school at Millfield in Street, Somerset,[10] where as a teenager he was a runner and hockey player.[11] In August 2000, while on a gap-year trip to Ko Samui, Thailand, after his A-levels,[10] he was involved in a serious motorcycle accident. While riding a moped, he went round a corner too quickly and skidded. He put out his leg to stop the motorcycle from falling over, and smashed his knee. The motorcycle then fell on him, resulting in the chain severing major blood vessels in his leg.[12]
He was flown to a hospital in Bangkok, but as he had damaged his lower right leg so severely, it had to be amputated above the knee after three days.[13] Upon returning to the UK, he spent about seven weeks undergoing rehabilitation at Queen Mary's Hospital in Roehampton, London.[12]
McFall spent the next year at home, during which he took up mountain biking and climbing and worked as a fitness instructor at his local leisure centre.[12] He also started running in the summer of 2003[10] as soon as he had his prosthesis fitted: "I love that sound of air rushing past your ears and the freedom of it. I missed that and I wanted to get that back."[13] After taking up his place at Swansea University[11] to pursue a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in sport and exercise science,[10] he practised on the university's running track and also trained with a local running club, the Swansea Harriers Athletic Club.[14] However, he found running difficult and uncomfortable as his prosthesis was not designed for the purpose, and frequently got damaged. Upon making inquiries at the Federation of Disability Sport Wales (FDSW), he was introduced to carbon-fibre running "blades".[12][13] He graduated from university with an upper second-class honours degree in summer 2004,[10][12] taking part in his first race at the Disability Sports Events (DSE) Championships in the UK[15] the same year.[11]
In September 2004, McFall embarked on postgraduate studies in sport and exercise science at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC), subsequently graduating with a Master of Science (MSc).[4][10] He took pre-medical examinations in 2008, and planned to retire from athletics after his 2009 season to train as a doctor.[16]
With his sprinting prosthesis, McFall began training with an ex-Paralympian. In early 2005 former Welsh international athlete Darrell Maynard[17] took over as his coach and he began training with an able-bodied squad. He was selected to represent Great Britain at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) European Championships which took place in August 2005 in Espoo, Finland,[12] a decision that greatly surprised him as he had not achieved the qualifying standard in races that summer.[15] In the Championships, his first international competition, he took the bronze medal in the 200metres[11] and came fourth in the 100-metre race,[18] having competed in sport class T42 (single amputation above the knee).[19] McFall was subsequently placed on a funding programme, enabling him to become a full-time athlete.[12]
At the end of January 2006, two weeks before the Sparkassen Cup in Stuttgart, Germany, McFall's car was stolen from the car park of the Welsh Institute of Sport where he worked part-time and trained. His customized running prosthesis worth £3,000 was in the boot.[20] Following his appeal for the return of the prosthesis, he received a telephone call from two youths who said they "might be able to recover the lost leg" but asked "What is it worth?" Infuriated, McFall refused to pay anything and asked the youths whether they had considered what being an amputee was like. After McFall agreed to take no further action against them, the youths anonymously returned the prosthesis to the Institute a week later.[21][22] McFall went on to achieve a personal best of 8.55seconds in the 60metres race, and 28.21seconds in the 200metres on 4 February.[3][22]
McFall's next major races were in September 2006 at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Championships, where he was awarded a silver medal in the 100metres[7] and a bronze in the 200metres.[7][23] The following year, on 13 May 2007, McFall struck gold and achieved a competition record time of 26.84seconds in the 200metres in his début at the Visa Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, England;[24] he also garnered a silver in the 100metres.[25] Subsequently, on 6 July 2007, he was placed third at the Meeting Gaz de France in Paris, part of the ÅF Golden League.[26]
McFall achieved his personal best time (as at 30 May 2008) in the 100metres of 12.70seconds by winning silver at the Bayer International Track and Field Competition in Leverkusen, Germany, on 10 August 2007.[1] Later that year he was champion in both the 100metres and 200metres at the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) World Wheelchair and Amputee Games in Chinese Taipei held from 9 to 19 September 2007.[27] In 2007, he was ranked first in the world for the 200metres, and second for the 100metres.[1][2]
McFall, who has been called "one of the fastest men in the world over 100m and 200m in the class of above-the-knee amputees",[28] made his Paralympicdébut for Great Britain in the 100metres (T42) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. After a false start,[29] he took the bronze medal in 13.08seconds behind Canada's Earle Connor (12.32seconds) and Germany's Heinrich Popow (12.98seconds).[30] Despite McFall's plans to retire from athletics after his 2009 season to study medicine, he did not rule out competing at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. He has said, "It would be nice to do 2012. I'm interested in cycling and rowing, and I won't qualify as a doctor till 2013, so it wouldn't be impossible. We'll see. It's that constant striving for excellence, the hunger to do more."[16]
Although McFall was born in England, he lives in Cardiff and competes professionally for Wales. He has said, "Wales has been very good to me and I want to put something back. So I'm very proud to run for Wales." According to him, his motorcycle accident "has been, in some ways, the best thing that ever happened to me. It's given me a focus, a drive, every day is a new challenge. ... I always had a list of goals and aspirations which didn't change after my accident – they just changed direction. Losing my leg has changed my life, but it hasn't changed who I am."[14]
Following the 2008 Paralympic Games, McFall returned to the UK from Beijing overland via the Trans-Siberian Railway.[11] He travelled from China to Mongolia and Russia, across Russia to Ukraine, then to Hungary, Croatia and the Dalmatian coast. From there he took a ferry to Italy to meet his girlfriend in Rome. They then travelled by train across Italy and Austria, eventually returning to the UK around the middle of November 2008.[37] McFall hopes one day to take up his childhood plans of running across the Sahara Desert, crossing the Atlantic Ocean by rowing boat, and obtaining a free-fallparachute licence.[11][14]
In his free time, McFall enjoys playing the guitar.[38]
Wojtek Czyz is a German para-badminton player representing New Zealand and former track and field athlete from the Polish part of Silesia.
Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius is a South African former professional sprinter and convicted murderer. He was first convicted of culpable homicide of his then-girlfriend, which was subsequently upgraded to murder upon appeal. Both of his feet were amputated when he was 11 months old as a result of a congenital defect; he was born missing the outside of both feet and both fibulas. Pistorius ran in both nondisabled sprint events and in sprint events for below-knee amputees. He was the 10th athlete to compete at both the Paralympic Games and Olympic Games.
The Paralympic sports comprise all the sports contested in the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games. As of 2020, the Summer Paralympics included 22 sports and 539 medal events, and the Winter Paralympics include 5 sports and disciplines and about 80 events. The number and kinds of events may change from one Paralympic Games to another.
Rudy Garcia-Tolson is a Paralympic swimmer, runner and triathlete from the USA.
Wheelchair racing is the racing of wheelchairs in track and road races. Wheelchair racing is open to athletes with any qualifying type of disability, including leg amputees, spinal cord injuries, and cerebral palsy. Athletes are classified in accordance with the nature and severity of their disability or combinations of disabilities. Like running, it can take place on a track or as a road race. The main competitions take place at the Summer Paralympics which wheelchair racing and athletics has been a part of since 1960. Competitors compete in specialized wheelchairs which allow the athletes to reach speeds of 30 km/h (18.6 mph) or more. It is one of the most prominent forms of Paralympic athletics.
Donald James William Elgin is an Australian Paralympic amputee track and field athlete who won four medals at three Paralympics.
Richard Whitehead MBE is a British athlete. He runs with prosthetic legs, as he has a double through-knee congenital amputation.
Alan Fonteles Cardoso de Oliveira is a Paralympian athlete from Brazil competing mainly in category T44 sprint events. Oliveira is a double-below-the-knee amputee, classifying him in the Paralympic T43 class; athletes in this class run in T44 event.
S8, SB7, SM8 are para-swimming classifications used for categorizing swimmers based on their level of disability. This class includes a number of different disabilities including people with amputations and cerebral palsy. The classification is governed by the International Paralympic Committee, and competes at the Paralympic Games.
T42 is a disability sport classification for disability athletics, applying to athletes with single above the knee amputations or a disability that is comparable. This class includes ISOD classified A2 and A9 competitors.
T43 is a disability sport classification for disability athletics, applying to athletes with "Double below knee amputation or similar disability." It includes ISOD classified athletes from the A4 and A9 classes.
T44 is a disability sport classification for disability athletics, applying to "Single below knee amputation or an athlete who can walk with moderately reduced function in one or both legs." It includes ISOD A4 and A9 classes.
Para triathlon is a variant of the triathlon for athletes with a physical disability. The sport is governed by World Triathlon, and was first held as a Paralympic event at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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.
Para-athletics classification is a system to determine which athletes with disabilities may compete against each other in para-athletics events. Classification is intended to group together athletes with similar levels of physical ability to allow fair competition. Classification was created and is managed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), which is regularly published via its IPC Athletics Classification Handbook. People with physical, vision and intellectual disabilities are eligible to compete in this sport at the Summer Paralympics. The classification for this sport was created during the 1940s and for much of its early history was a medical condition based classification system. The classification system has subsequently become a functional mobility based one, and is moving towards an evidence-based classification system.
Scott Peter Reardon, is an Australian Paralympic leg amputee sprinter and water skier. He won water skiing world championships in 2007 and 2009. He represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in athletics, winning a silver medal in the Men's 100 m T42. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he went one placing better to win the gold medal. Reardon has won the Men's 100 m T42 in three consecutive World Para Athletics Championships, from 2013 to 2017. He competed at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, his third games.
Markus Rehm is a German Paralympic athlete, and in the long jump has won four Paralympic, six world and five European titles. He began in sports at age 20 and became a long jump F44 world champion in 2011. His club is TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen and he is a medical specialist. Rehm is nicknamed "The Blade Jumper", as he is a long jumper with a blade-type leg prosthesis. Rehm's right leg was amputated below the knee after a wakeboarding accident. He uses a carbon-fibre bladed prosthesis, from which he jumps off.
A2 is an amputee sport classification used by the International Sports Organization for the Disabled (ISOD).for people with acquired or congenital amputations. A2 sportspeople have one leg amputated above the knee. Their amputations impact their sport performance, including having balance issues, increased energy costs, higher rates of oxygen consumption, and issues with their gait.
A3 is an amputee sport classification used by the International Sports Organization for the Disabled (ISOD) for people with acquired or congenital amputations. A3 classified sportspeople have both legs amputated below knee. Their amputations impact their sport performance, including having balance issues, increased energy costs, higher rates of oxygen consumption, and issues with their gait. Sports people in this class are eligible to participate in include athletics, swimming, sitting volleyball, archery, weightlifting, badminton, lawn bowls, sitzball and wheelchair basketball.
David Henson, MBE is a British parasport athlete competing mainly in T42 classification sprint events. He has represented Britain at the Invictus Games, World and European Championships and in 2016 he was selected for the Summer Paralympics in Rio, winning a bronze medal in the 200m sprint (T42).
John McFall at IPC.InfostradaSports.com (archived)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Wales 
Great Britain 
