Kathleen Smith (archer)

Last updated

Kathleen Smith
Personal information
NationalityBritish
SpouseGary Critchlow-Smith
Medal record
Women's archery
Representing Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain
Paralympic Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2004 Athens Teams Open
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2000 Sydney Teams Open
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2000 Sydney Women's individual W1/W2
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1996 Atlanta Teams Open

Kathleen Smith or Kathy Critchlow-Smith is a British Paralympic archer who has competed at five Paralympics.

Contents

Life

It was the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona that first made Smith aware of international competition. She was one of the 21 women and 74 men there from 26 countries to compete at seven sports. Great Britain won no medals at archery that year. [1] Smith saw that her competitors had coaches to encourage them. She had already met Ray Fields so on her return in 1994 she joined Sportsable which was a sports disability club in Maidenhead. Smith's motive was to gain Fields as a coach. [2] Fields had become disabled when he was 70 years old. [3]

She concentrated on her archery skills and by 1996 she was considered an elite sportswoman [2] and a contestant at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics. She joined Anita Chapman and Rebecca Gale to gain a bronze medal for Great Britain in the women’s archery team open. [1] At these Games, Chapman also won a silver medal. [1]

Smith had surgery in 1999 and thought this might rule her out of competition, but at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics she was again in Britain's team of three archers who competed for the women’s archery team open, winning the silver. [1] Smith gained an individual silver in the women’s individual W1/W2 [1] behind Paola Fantato of Italy.

Four years later at the 2004 Athens Paralympics, Smith won her fourth and last medal, winning the gold in the women’s archery team open with Chapman again as a team mate. [1]

She was a competitor at five Paralympics, Barcelona 1992, Atalanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. [4]

Private life

She is married to Gary Critchlow-Smith who volunteers as an archery tutor. Both she and her husband are long tern supporters of sports for those with disabilities. [5] They took the Hungarian archer Tamas Gaspar under their wing as he aimed to get to the 2020 Summer Paralympics. [4] They were both given lifetime achievement awards at the 8th Get Berkshire Active Awards by SportsAble. They are both qualified coaches and they give weekly coaching sessions. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chantal Petitclerc</span> Canadian politician

Chantal Petitclerc is a Canadian wheelchair racer and a Senator from Quebec.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Paralympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Great Britain competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Great Britain sent a delegation of around 400, of which 212 were athletes, to compete in eighteen sports at the Games. The team was made up of athletes from the whole United Kingdom; athletes from Northern Ireland, who may elect to hold Irish citizenship under the pre-1999 article 2 of the Irish constitution, are able to be selected to represent either Great Britain or Ireland at the Paralympics. Additionally some British overseas territories compete separately from Britain in Paralympic competition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siobhan Paton</span> Australian Paralympic swimmer (born 1983)

Siobhan Bethany Paton, OAM is an Australian Paralympic swimmer who was born in Sydney. Paton has had an intellectual disability from birth which was a consequence a lack of oxygen. Paton decided to become a swimmer after finding out she has a connective tissue disorder and that swimming would assist in the strengthening of her joints. Siobhan initially began competing with non-disabled athletes and only in 1997 did she compete in a competition for athletes with disabilities, where she won seven gold medals and one silver medal. As of 2004, she holds thirteen world records in her disability class of S14.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalia Partyka</span> Polish para table tennis player

Natalia Dorota Partyka is a Polish para table tennis player. Born without a right hand and forearm, she participates in competitions for able-bodied athletes as well as in competitions for athletes with disabilities. Partyka reached the last 32 of the London 2012 Olympic women's table tennis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khatuna Lorig</span> Georgian archer

Khatuna Lorig is a Georgian archer who immigrated to the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindsey Carmichael</span> American Paralympic archer

Lindsey Ann Carmichael is a Paralympic Bronze Medalist in archery.

Anita Chapman MBE is a British Paralympic archer who won medals at four Paralympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Maughan</span> British archer (1928–2020)

Margaret Maughan was a British competitive archer, dartcher and bowls competitor. She was Britain's first gold medallist at the Paralympic Games, and won four gold and two silver medals at the Games. She lit the cauldron at the Olympic Stadium in London at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Paralympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danielle Brown</span> English competitive archer

Danielle Brown MBE is a British competitive archer and award winning children's author. She has competed in the Paralympic Games, winning gold medals in Beijing and London, and has also won medals shooting in the able-bodied category, including at the Commonwealth Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sophie Christiansen</span> British Paralympic equestrian

Sophie Margaret Christiansen, CBE is an English equestrian who has competed in four successive Paralympic Games. In 2012 and 2016 she gained three gold medals at the Paralympics. In 2008 she won two gold medals and a silver at the Beijing Paralympics whilst studying for a master's degree in mathematics at Royal Holloway, University of London. She works as a software developer at investment bank, Goldman Sachs and as a disability campaigner. She qualified for the postponed 2020 Summer Paralympics but had to drop out due to her horse not being fit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australia at the 1968 Summer Paralympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Australia competed at the 1968 Summer Paralympics in Tel Aviv, Israel. The Games significantly expanded in 1968 when compared to previous years, as did the Australian team and the events included in the Games. Mexico City were originally to host the 1968 Paralympics, however, they were moved to Tel Aviv in Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australia at the 2004 Summer Paralympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Australia competed at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. It was Australia's 12th year of participation at the Paralympics. The team included 151 athletes. Australian competitors won 101 medals to finish fifth in the gold medal table and second on the total medal table. Australia competed in 12 sports and won medals in 8 sports. The Chef de Mission was Paul Bird. The Australian team was smaller than the Sydney Games due to a strict selection policy related to the athletes' potential to win a medal and the International Paralympic Committee's decision to remove events for athletes with an intellectual disability from the Games due to issues of cheating at the Sydney Games. This was due to a cheating scandal with the Spanish intellectually disabled basketball team in the 2000 Summer Paralympics where it was later discovered that only two players actually had intellectual disabilities. The IPC decision resulted in leading Australian athletes such as Siobhan Paton and Lisa Llorens not being able to defend their Paralympic titles. The 2000 summer paralympic games hosted in Sydney Australia proved to be a milestone for the Australian team as they finished first on the medal tally for the first time in history. In comparing Australia's 2000 Paralympic performance and their 2004 performance, it is suggested that having a home advantage might affect performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daphne Ceeney</span> Australian Paralympic athlete (1934–2016)

Daphne Jean Hilton was an Australian Paralympic competitor. She was the first Australian woman to compete at the Paralympic Games. She won fourteen medals in three Paralympics in archery, athletics, fencing, swimming, and table tennis from 1960 to 1968.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australia at the 1992 Summer Paralympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Australia competed at the 1992 Paralympic Games in Barcelona for physically and vision-impaired athletes. Immediately after the Barcelona Games, the city of Madrid held events for athletes with an intellectual disability. The Madrid results are not included in International Paralympic Committee Historical Results Database. Australia finished 7th in the total medal count winning 76 medals. Australia competed in 13 sports and won medals in 3 sports – swimming, athletics and weightlifting. Australia finished first in the medal tally at the 1992 Paralympic Games for Persons with Mental Handicap in Madrid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oscar De Pellegrin</span> Italian Paralympic archer and sports shooter

Oscar De Pellegrin is an Italian Paralympic archer and former Paralympic sports shooter. At the 2022 Italian local elections, he has been elected mayor of Belluno.

Mel Clarke is an English competitive archer.

Isabel Newstead, was a British paralympic athlete who competed at seven consecutive Paralympic Games from 1980 to 2004. Overall, Newstead won ten gold, four silver and four bronze medals in three different sports. She was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deanna Coates</span> British Paralympic shooter

Deanna "Di" Coates MBE is a sport shooter who has competed in eight Paralympic Games winning three gold medals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharon Vennard</span> British archer

Sharon Vennard is a British competitive archer who competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Archery". National Paralympic Heritage Trust. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Athlete Profile : Kathy Critchlow-Smith". SportsAble. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  3. BBC. "Olympic Achievement". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  4. 1 2 "Lifetime Achievement for Gary and Kathy Critchlow-Smith". SportsAble. 4 March 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  5. "Parade aims to highlight needs of disabled". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  6. "The 8th GBA Awards Winners". getberkshireactive.org. Retrieved 6 July 2021.