| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality | Irish | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 7 July 1955 Ballinhassig, Cork | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Kinsale Yacht Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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John Twomey (born 7 July 1955) [1] is an Irish Paralympic athlete and sailor. He has represented Ireland at 11 consecutive Paralympic games winning medals at three of them. [2]
Born in Cork, Twomey was a local hurler and a competitive cyclist until he was injured in a cycling competition in March 1970 aged just 14. He broke his back and has used a wheelchair since. [3]
Twomey became a track and field athlete representing Ireland from 1976 to 1996 at the Paralympics in the discus event. He won both Gold and Bronze medals in Discus and the Silver medal in table tennis. When he retired from athletics the timing was right that he could take up his other sport of Sailing at Olympic level. In 1996 Sailing was a demonstration event at the Paralympics and in 2000 Twomey qualified to represent Ireland in the Sonar. [4]
He has been the helmsman in the Mixed Three Person Sonar, a 23-foot two sail keelboat in the 2000 Sydney Games, 2004 Athens Games, 2012 London Games and 2016 Rio Games and the Mixed Two Person SKUD18 in 2008 Beijing Games [5] [6] [7]
At the 2013 ISAF World Championships in Weymouth, he teamed with Ian Costelloe and Austin O’Carroll to win the bronze medal in the Sonar Class. [8] They finished sixth in the Miami event. [9]
Twomey was elected President of the International Association for Disabled Sailing in 2012. [10] He was responsible for helping the IFDS through three major challenges which occurred after that including a court case related to the 2012 Paralympics, the merger of the IFDS and the ISAF as well as the loss of sailing as a paralympic sport in the 2020 Paralympics. [11]
Twomey lead the Ireland team out during the opening ceremony as the national flag bearer of the Rio 2016 Games. [12] [13]
Eighty athletes representing 25 countries in three keelboat classes - the 2.4mR, the SKUD 18, and the Sonar, took part in sailing in the 2008 Summer Paralympics. Sailing was held in two designated areas on the Yellow Sea, Qingdao, Shandong province, from September 8 to September 13.
Haider Ali is an all-around Pakistani para-athlete who created history at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China by winning Pakistan's first ever Paralympic games medal, a silver. He also shared a new world record with his jump of 6.44 meters at the Games. He has competed at the Paralympics on five occasions in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024. He has the unique record of winning a country's first ever Paralympic gold, silver and bronze medals as he is the only Pakistani to have won a medal in Paralympic history. On 3 September 2021, he became the first gold medalist for Pakistan at the Paralympics. In the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships, he became the first Pakistani Para athlete to win a medal at the World Para Athletics Championships, a silver.
The National Olympic Committee of Pakistan was created in 1948. Pakistan first participated at the Paralympic Games in 1992, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Paralympic Games since then. Pakistan has won four medals, one gold, one silver and two bronze medals in the Paralympic Games. All four medals have come courtesy of Haider Ali in the Men's Long Jump and Discus Throw events. Pakistan has never participated in the Winter Paralympic Games.
The International Association for Disabled Sailing (IFDS) was an affiliate member of the International Sailing Federation and was responsible for coordinating the paralympic sailing competition with the International Paralympic Committee. The organisation was initially called the International Foundation for Disabled Sailing up until around 2008 when it had to change its name due to tax law in the country it is registered in.
Abdolreza Jokar is a Paralympian athlete from Iran competing mainly in category F53 javelin events.
Liesl Dorothy Tesch AM is an Australian wheelchair basketball player, sailor, and politician. She is a Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing Gosford since the 2017 Gosford state by-election.
Colin Anthony Harrison is an Australian Paralympic sailor. He won the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, and the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in the Three Person Sonar.
Russell Boaden is a Paralympic sailor from Australia. He won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, and a won a gold medal in the Mixed Three Person Sonar the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Daniel Fitzgibbon, is an Australian Paralympic sailor, who won a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. He won gold medals at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Paralympics with partner Liesl Tesch in the two person SKUD 18.
Sailing at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London was held from August in Weymouth and Portland. XYZ competitors representing XYZ countries will compete in three keelboat classes - the 2.4mR, the SKUD 18, and the Sonar, took part in sailing in the 2008 Summer Paralympics.
Matthew Bugg is an Australian sailor. He represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in the 2.4mR class sailing event. He won a bronze medal at the 2015 IFDS World Championships. He won a silver medal in the 2.4mR at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Jonathan Bruce Harris is an Australian blue-water sailor who began his sailing career when he was about ten. He won a gold medal in the Mixed Three Person Sonar the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Philipine van Aanholt is a female sailor from Curaçao, competing mainly in the Laser Radial class. She is a two-time Women World Champion in non-Olympic classes. In 2008 and 2009 she was chosen Curaçao's Youth Sports Women of the year. After the National Olympic Committee of the Netherlands Antilles lost its recognition by the International Olympic Committee following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010, van Aanholt was allowed to participate in the 2012 Summer Olympics as an Independent Olympic Athlete. In 2016, she represented neighboring island Aruba at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She was Aruba's flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the 2015 Pan American Games. In 2023, she won silver in the Sunfish class at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.
Singapore competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's sixteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics, except for two different editions. Singapore was part of the Malaysian team at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, but did not attend at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, because of its support for the United States boycott.
Hannah Stodel is a British Paralympic sailor. Stodel has represented Great Britain at three Summer Paralympics and with her colleagues John Robertson and Stephen Thomas has won multiple medals in the Mixed Sonar class at the Disabled Sailing World Championships, including gold in 2005 and 2006.
Stephen Thomas is a British Paralympic sailor. Thomas has represented Great Britain at three Summer Paralympics and with his colleagues John Robertson and Hannah Stodel has won multiple medals in the Mixed Sonar class at the Disabled Sailing World Championships, including gold in 2005 and 2006.
John Curtis-Robertson is a British Paralympic sailor. Curtis-Robertson has represented Great Britain at three Summer Paralympics and with his colleagues Stephen Thomas and Hannah Stodel has won multiple medals in the Mixed Sonar class at the Disabled Sailing World Championships, including skippering his team to back to back gold medals in 2005 and 2006.
Sailing at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro took place between 12 and 17 September 2016 in Marina da Glória, Copacabana. 80 competitors, 11 of which were female, competed in three keelboat classes. Three sailing events will be held. All were mixed events, meaning that men and women can compete together.
New Zealand competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. It was the nation's thirteenth appearance at the Summer Paralympics, having made its debut in 1968 and appeared in every edition since.
The opening ceremony for the 2022 Asian Para Games held on 22 October 2023, at the Hangzhou Sports Park Stadium in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. The ceremony began at 7:30 PM China Standard Time (UTC+8).
