Personal information | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nationality | Australian | ||||||||||||||
Born | 24 April 1962 Glasgow, Scotland | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Karen Farrell (born 24 April 1962) is an Australian wheelchair basketball player, who won two silver medals at the Paralympic Games.
She was born in Glasgow, Scotland. [1] Farrell is from Sydney. [2] She became a paraplegic at the age of fifteen, when a car she was a passenger in slid off the road after trying to pass a truck. [2] At the time of the accident, she was not belted into her seat and sustained back, head and neck injuries. [2] Other passengers in the car who were belted in had much less severe injuries. [2] When she is not competing, she works as an Information Technology Consultant. [2]
Farrell is a New South Wales Institute of Sport athlete. [3] She has been a member of the New South Wales women's state basketball team and competed at the national championships. [2] In 2001, she was a scholarship holder at the Australian Institute of Sport. [4] In 2000, she was also sponsored by the Motor Accidents Authority in New South Wales. [5]
Farrell was a member of Australia's national team by 1994. That year and in 1998, she was part of the Australian team that finished third at the Gold Cup tournament. [2] She won two silver medals as part of the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team at the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Paralympics. [6]
In 2008, Farrell played her club basketball of the Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL)'s Hills Hornets. [7] Her team mates included Liesl Tesch, [7] who was on the same team as Farrell when they earned their 2000 and 2004 Paralympic medals. [8]
In 2008, Farrell received a Basketball Australia Merit Award. [9]
Shelley Matheson is an Australian 3.5-point player wheelchair basketball player. She participated in the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, where she won a silver medal; in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, where she won a bronze medal, and the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where she won a second silver medal, a win she dedicated to her lifelong friend Shannon.
The 1996 Summer Paralympics were held in the United States city of Atlanta. Australia competed in 13 of the 17 sports, winning medals in 10 of those sports. At the 1996 Summer Paralympics, Australia had the second highest medal tally of any country competing. It won 42 gold, 37 silver and 27 bronze medals. It surpassed the 24 gold medals that Australia won at the 1992 Paralympics. The sports of athletics, swimming and cycling provided Australia with the majority of its medals.
The Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team is the women's wheelchair basketball side that represents Australia in international competitions. The team is known as the Gliders. The team hasn't won a gold medal for Australia since it began competing at the 1992 Summer Paralympics, however it has won either the silver or bronze medal since the 2000 Summer Paralympics held in Sydney. Gliders finished 6th at the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship but did not qualify for the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
Kylie Gauci is an Australian Paralympic 2-point wheelchair basketball player. She participated in the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, where she won a silver medal; in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, where she won a bronze medal, and the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where she won a second silver medal. Gauci represented Australia at the 2002, 2006 and 2010 World Championships, and was named to the World All Star 5 at the World Championships in Amsterdam in 2006. She has played over 180 international games.
Angela Ballard is an Australian Paralympic athlete who competes in T53 wheelchair sprint events. She became a paraplegic at age 7 due to a car accident.
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.
Clare Nott is a former Australian 1.0 point wheelchair basketball player who played for the Kilsyth Cobras in the Women's national Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL) and for the Red Dust Heelers in the mixed National Wheelchair basketball League (NWBL). She participated in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, where she won a bronze medal, and the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where she won a silver medal.
Cobi Crispin is a 4 point wheelchair basketball forward from Western Australia. She began playing wheelchair basketball in 2003 when she was 17 years old. The Victorian Institute of Sport and Direct Athlete Support (DAS) program have provided assistance to enable her to play. She played club basketball in the Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL) for the Victorian Dandenong Rangers in 2012 after having previously played for the Western Stars. In 2015 she began playing for the Minecraft Comets. She played for the University of Alabama in the United States in 2013–15.
Katie Hill is an Australian 3.0 point wheelchair basketball player. She participated in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, where she won a bronze medal, and the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where she won a silver medal. She has over 100 international caps playing for Australia.
Dr. Bridie Kean is an Australian wheelchair basketball player and canoeist. She won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, and a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. In 2016, she became a va'a world champion.
Tina McKenzie is an Australian wheelchair basketball player. She participated in the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, where she won a silver medal; in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, where she won a bronze medal; and the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where she won a second silver medal. After becoming an incomplete paraplegic as a result of a fall from a building in 1994, she took up wheelchair tennis and later wheelchair basketball. She joined the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team, known as the Gliders, in 1999, and played her first international match at the 2002 World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Japan. She has over 100 international caps.
Sarah Stewart is a 3.0 point wheelchair basketball player from Australia. She participated in the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, where she won a silver medal; in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, where she won a bronze medal; and the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where she won a second silver medal.
Julianne Adams is an Australian wheelchair basketball player.
Amanda Carter is an Australian Paralympic wheelchair basketball player. Diagnosed with transverse myelitis at the age of 24, she began playing wheelchair basketball in 1991 and participated in the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team, the Gliders, at three Paralympics from 1992 to 2000. An injury in 2000 forced her to withdraw from the sport, but she came back to the national team in 2009, and was a member of the team that represented Australia and won silver at the 2012 London 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.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Australian women's basketball was successful in terms of attracting participants and having a competitive team on the international stages. This success did not translate into sponsorship and financial support for the sport.
Leanne Del Toso is a 3.5 point wheelchair basketball player who represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where she won a silver medal. Diagnosed with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy at the age of nineteen, Del Toso started playing wheelchair basketball in 2006. Playing in the local Victorian competition, she was named the league's most valuable player in 2007. That year started playing for the Knox Ford Raiders in the Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL). The following year, she was named the team's Players' Player and Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Amber Merritt is a 4.5-point wheelchair basketball player who plays forward. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where she won a silver medal and at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo.
The Australia Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL) is a women's semi-professional wheelchair basketball league in Australia.
Shelley Cronau is a 3.0 point Australian wheelchair basketball player. She was part of the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team (Gliders) line up at the Osaka Cup in Japan in 2011, 2012 and 2013, and the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto in June 2014. She was captain of the Minecraft Comets team that won the Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL) championship title in 2014. The Minecraft Comets were named the Queensland Sporting Wheelies Team of the Year for 2014, and Cronau won the award for Sporting Wheelie of the Year. She represented the Gliders at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.