Personal information | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Laurence McGivern | ||||||||
Nationality | Ireland | ||||||||
Born | Rostrevor, County Down, Northern Ireland | 22 September 1992||||||||
Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||
Weight | 72 kg (159 lb) | ||||||||
Sport | |||||||||
Sport | Swimming | ||||||||
Strokes | Freestyle Backstroke | ||||||||
Club | Invictus [1] | ||||||||
College team | Queen's University Belfast [2] | ||||||||
Medal record
|
Laurence McGivern (born September 22, 1992) is a former Irish Paralympic swimmer from Rostrevor, County Down, Northern Ireland. He trained in Belfast, Northern Ireland with Invictus Swimming Club under coaching of Steven McQuillan, retiring in May 2015. He has congenital amputations of both legs just below the knee. McGivern was a finalist in the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the 2012 Paralympic Games as well as various IPC World and European Swimming Championships. He competes in the S9 classification in his main event, the 100m backstroke retiring after a third place and bronze medal at the IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal 2013.
Laurence was born on 22 September 1992 with various defects in both of his legs which resulted in their amputation, just below the knee. He is now able to walk with the aid of two prosthetic legs. Laurence took to many sports and hobbies, including; Gaelic Football, Athletics, Judo, Trampolining, Irish Dancing and ultimately Swimming. He attended the Abbey Christian Brothers' Grammar School in Newry, Northern Ireland, refining his sporting abilities and further realising his potential in swimming. He was also heavily involved in academic work and Is a talented musician and performer. McGivern soon joined Newry & Mourne ASC Swimming Club and competed at district, county and regional levels, including various open meets throughout the year. In 2012, after successfully completing A level examinations, he moved to Belfast where he was accepted to study Accounting with French at Queen's University Belfast and then went on to do a MSc in finance. As a student in university he trained with Invictus, one of Ireland's premier competitive swimming clubs and continued to balance academics with his sporting career. He was also elected as Treasurer of Queen's Musical theatre Society (QMTS), where he successfully received funding to produce a musical along with President, Hannah Le Fevre Taylor.
Laurence competed in the International Paralympic Committee's S9 (freestyle, backstroke and butterfly) SB8 (breaststroke) and SM9 (individual medley) classifications; which is said to consist of swimmers with a severe leg weakness, swimmers with slight coordination problems and swimmers with one limb loss. [3] McGivern started swimming when he was still in primary school and after a few years his potential was recognised by Paralympics Ireland. He soon joined Newry & Mourne ASC Swimming Club to develop his talent and as his love for the sport grew, he dedicated more and more time to training, and set a goal to one day compete in the Paralympic Games. He competed at various local and national meets for the first few years of his training, setting and maintaining the current Irish S9 records in all strokes, before eventually qualifying for Senior IPC European and World Swimming championships and even the Commonwealth Games and Paralympic Games.
In 2013 Laurence took Bronze in the 100m backstroke at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in Montréal, Canada. The event saw Ireland's largest ever haul at a Paralympic swimming meet. McGivern was the fourth fastest qualifier going into the final, having swum a time of 1.06.18 in the heat (close to his previous best of 1:05.35 which he swam at the Paralympic Games in London in 2012, in eighth place). He then went on to swim a personal best time of 1.04.75 in the final, finishing ahead of Paralympic Games bronze medallist Xiaobing Liu of China and Australia's Brenden Hall and claiming his first major international medal. [4]
After just qualifying at the last second for the S9 100m Backstroke, McGivern represented Ireland at the London 2012 Paralympic Games where he ended up making it through to the final. [1] Just scraping the qualifying time of 1.07.83, Laurence smashed this time with a new personal best of 1.05.35 in the heat of the men's S9 100m Backstroke, placing himself sixth going into the final where he finished eighth overall and shocked a few of his more experienced competitors.
McGivern competed in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, being the only paralympic athlete representing Northern Ireland in the games. He came seventh in the Paralympic 50m S9 swimming event in a time of 28.95 - he set a personal best of 28.84 in the heats. [5] He also finished fifth in the 100m S10 freestyle final in a time of 1:03.31, being the second fastest of the S9 swimmers. [6]
Laurence's first main international sporting event was at the IPC Swimming European Championships in Reykjavík Iceland in 2009 when he was 18 years old. This was a great stepping stone on his Paralympic Journey where he had his first experience of elite competition.
Matthew John Cowdrey is an Australian politician and Paralympic swimmer. He presently holds numerous world records. He has a congenital amputation of his left arm; it stops just below the elbow. Cowdrey competed at the 2004 Paralympic Games, 2006 Commonwealth Games, 2008 Paralympic Games, 2010 Commonwealth Games, and the 2012 Paralympic Games. After the 2012 London Games, he is the most successful Australian Paralympian, having won thirteen Paralympic gold medals and twenty three Paralympic medals in total. On 10 February 2015, Cowdrey announced his retirement from swimming.
Dame Sophie Frances Pascoe is a New Zealand para-swimmer. She has represented New Zealand at four Summer Paralympic Games from 2008, winning a total of eleven gold medals, seven silver medals and one bronze medal, making her New Zealand's most successful Paralympian. She has also represented New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games.
Ellie Victoria Cole, is an Australian retired Paralympic swimmer and wheelchair basketball player. After having her leg amputated due to cancer, she trained in swimming as part of her rehabilitation program and progressed more rapidly than instructors had predicted. She began competitive swimming in 2003 and first competed internationally at the 2006 IPC Swimming World Championships, where she won a silver medal. Since then, she has won medals in the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, the Commonwealth Games, the Paralympic Games, the IPC Swimming World Championships, and various national championships.
Brenden Hall, is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He competed at the, 2008 Beijing Paralympics, 2012 London Paralympics, 2016 Rio Paralympics, 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and the 2024 Paris Paralympics. At the end of the Paris Paralympics, he had won three gold, one silver and three bronze medals.
David Malone is an Irish bi-lateral Paralympic swimmer. He participated in four consecutive Paralympic Games, starting with the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. He won gold at the 2000 Summer Paralympics and held the world record for 100-metre backstroke for ten years. He retired from competition in 2008. He currently is the performance director for Paralympics Ireland.
Daniel Fox is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics being awarded a bronze most recently in the 200m Freestyle S14. He has won gold at the Global Games, the Arafura Games, World Championships, Can-Am Championships, Para Pan Pacific Championships, EnergyAustralia Championships and the Commonwealth Games. Daniel also holds the world record for the 50m freestyle (24.77) and the 100m freestyle record (53.50) in the S14 classification. Daniel Fox is also the Australian ambassador for the INAS Global Games in 2019.
Hannah Russell, is a British Paralympic swimmer competing in S12 classification events. In 2012, she became British S12 champion in the 100m backstroke and qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games where she won a silver in the 400m freestyle and a bronze in the 100m butterfly. In the 2016 Summer Paralympic Games, she won the gold medal in the 100m backstroke with the time of 1:06:06 earning her the World Record.
Bethany Charlotte Firth, is a Northern Irish Paralympic swimmer. Since 2014 she has competed for Great Britain; previously, Firth had represented Ireland. A six time Paralympic gold medalist, she has won gold in her specialist event - the 100 metres backstroke - for both Ireland at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and Great Britain at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics. These were in addition to the Mixed 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay S14 at the 2020 Games, and 200 metres medley and 200 metres freestyle for Great Britain at the 2016 Games, where she was the nation's most successful Paralympian with three golds and a silver medal. She competes in the S14 classification for athletes with an intellectual impairment.
Stephanie Millward is a British former Paralympic swimmer.
Rowan Crothers is an Australian freestyle swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and 2024 Paris Paralympics. He won two gold and one silver medals at the Tokyo Paralympics and two silver and one bronze medals at Paris Paralympics.
Lakeisha Dawn Patterson, is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. She won medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, she won Australia's first gold medal of the Games in a world record time swim in the Women's 400m freestyle S8. At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, she won the gold medal in the Women's 400 m Freestyle S9. At the 2024 Paris Paralympics, she won the silver medal in the Women's 400 m Freestyle S9.
Ashleigh Kate McConnell, is a limb deficient Paralympic swimmer of Australia. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, where she won gold medals in freestyle relay events.
Timothy Malcolm Disken, is an Australian paralympic swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships and won bronze in the men's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he won a gold medal in the men's 100m freestyle S9, a silver medal in the men's S9 50m freestyle and a bronze medal in the men's 200m individual medley SM9. He also competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Alice Rose Tai is a British paralympic swimmer. Tai competes in the SB8, SM8 and S8. She has represented Great Britain at European and World Championships and at the Commonwealth and Paralympic Games, gold medals at all levels.
Timothy Hodge is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He has represented Australia at the 2016, 2020, and 2024 Summer Paralympics, where he won two gold, three silver and one bronze medals.
Logan Powell is an Australian Paralympic amputee swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Christiane Reppe is a German disability swimmer, and cyclist who has competed at three Summer Paralympics. To date her most successful Games was the 2004 Games in Athens where she won two bronze medals, in the 100m and 400m freestyle S9 events. As a handcyclist she is a two time UCI Para-cycling World Champion.
Toni Stephanie Shaw is a British Paralympic swimmer. In 2019 she set the world record time for the S9 200m butterfly, and was also part of the team that set a new world record for the 4 × 100 m medley relay. At the 2020 Summer Paralympics, she won a bronze medal in the women's 400 metre freestyle S9 event and later went on to win gold at the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships, becoming the World Champion. She is a three-time World Champion and two-time European Champion.
Barry McClements is a para swimmer from Newtownards, Northern Ireland.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)