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| Full name | Lindy Hou | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 18 February 1960 British Hong Kong | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Lindy Hou, OAM [1] (born 18 February 1960) [2] is an Australian tandem cyclist and triathlete from Hong Kong. Arriving in Australia with her family in 1974, she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa in the mid-1980s and became legally blind in 1996. She has won six medals at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Paralympics.
Hou was born in Hong Kong on 2 March 1960. [2] [3] Her parents, who came from the southern provinces of China, moved to Hong Kong in 1960 and the family emigrated to Australia in 1974. [3] In the mid-1980s, she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, and she became legally blind in 1996. [3] Before the deterioration of her eyesight, she was a competitive triathlete and triathlon coach, twice competing as an Australian Age Group Representative, and worked in the information technology industry. [4] She lives in Canberra, having previously lived in Sydney, and works as a massage therapist and a motivational speaker. [2] [5] She has served as an Australia Day and Chinese New Year festival ambassador. [6] [7]
Hou took up tandem cycling in 1999, and first competed in the sport for Australia in 2001. [2] She narrowly missed out on selection for the 2000 Sydney Games. After the games, she created the "Athens Express" Tandem Cycling Team, consisting of her and her pilots Janelle Lindsay for sprints and kilo events and Toireasa Gallagher for pursuit and road races. [2]
At the 2004 Athens Games, she won a gold medal in the Women's Sprint Tandem B1–3 event, for which she received a Medal of the Order of Australia, [1] two silver medals in the Women's Road Race / Time Trial Tandem B1–3 and Women's Individual Pursuit Tandem B1–3 events, and a bronze medal in the Women's 1 km Time Trial Tandem B1–3 event. [8] After the Athens games, Ryan became her only pilot. [2] In 2006, she won two gold medals at the World Cycling Championships. [2] At the 2008 Beijing Games, she won a silver medal in the Women's Individual Pursuit B VI 1–3 event and a bronze medal in the Women's 1 km Time Trial B VI 1–3 event. [8] She retired from Paralympic cycling after the Beijing games, and was named the Female Para-Cyclist of the Year for 2008 at the Cycling Australia Awards. [9] She has been on five long-distance bike rides for charities, including one for Retina Australia from the Gold Coast to Sydney in September 2011. [10]
Returning to her first sport of triathlon, she was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 ITU Paratriathlon World Championships, racing in the TRI-6 (visually impaired) classification. She withdrew due to injury. The sole female TRI-6 competitor in the inaugural Australian Paratriathlon Championships, held in January 2013, [11] Hou was selected to race in the 2013 ITU Triathlon World Championships in London, where she and guide Maureen Cummings carried the Australian flag during the opening ceremony. [12] She did not medal in the race. [13] At the 2014 Australian and Oceania championships, Hou won her classification. [14]
Along with Michael Milton, she is one of two athlete members of the Triathlon Australia Paratriathlon Committee, which aims to develop the sport following its inclusion in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics. [15]
Sarnya Marie Parker, OAM is an Australian visually impaired paralympic tandem cyclist. She was born in the South Australian town of Loxton. Before she took up Paralympic tandem cycling, she was a nationally ranked top-ten pentathlete. She won a gold medal in long jump at the 1999 FESPIC Games in Thailand.
Kieran John Modra was an Australian Paralympic swimmer and tandem cyclist. He won five gold and five bronze medals at eight Paralympic Games from 1988 to 2016, along with two silver medals at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Kerry Joan Modra is an Australian Paralympic tandem cycling pilot. She was born in the New South Wales city of Nowra. She was introduced to Kieran Modra, a visually impaired cyclist, at a friend's 21st birthday party. He convinced her to take up cycling; she had only played netball before then. She became Modra's pilot, and six months later, she won a gold medal with him at the 1996 Atlanta Games in the Mixed 200 m Sprint Tandem open event, for which she received a Medal of the Order of Australia.
Lynette "Lyn" Lepore, is a visually impaired Paralympic tandem cyclist from Perth, Western Australia. She competed at the 1996 Atlanta Games but did not win any medals at those games. At the 2000 Sydney Games, she won a gold medal in the Women's Tandem open event, for which she received a Medal of the Order of Australia, a silver medal in the Women's 1 km Time Trial Tandem open event and a bronze medal in the Women's Individual Pursuit Open event, with her pilot Lynette Nixon. In 2000, she received an Australian Sports Medal.
Tania Modra, OAM is an Australian Paralympic tandem cycling pilot. She was born in the South Australian town of Port Lincoln, grew up on a farm in Greenpatch, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Port Lincoln, and attended high school at Immanuel College. Eighteen months before the 2000 Sydney Games, her brother, visually impaired Paralympic tandem cyclist Kieran Modra, introduced her to tandem cyclist Sarnya Parker, despite Modra's lack of competitive cycling experience, and she became Parker's pilot. She won two gold medals at the Sydney Paralympics with Parker in the Women's 1 km Time Trial Tandem open and Women's Individual Pursuit Tandem open events, for which she received a Medal of the Order of Australia; the pair broke the world record in both events. At the 2000 Games, she also piloted her brother Kieran after his wife Kerry, who was pregnant with the couple's first child, had fainted due to low blood pressure during a quarter-final sprint race.
Robert Colville Crowe, OAM is an Australian Champion Cyclist who competed in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and as Kieran Modra's pilot in the 2004 Athens Paralympics. He also directs the popular indoor cycling engine-training school at Ridewiser in Melbourne, Australia.
Kelly McCombie is an Australian Paralympic tandem cycling pilot. She was born in Sydney and lives in Perth. She began cycling in 1996 and went on to pilot visually impaired tandem cyclist Janet Shaw. At the Australian Championships before the 2004 Athens Paralympics, McCombie and her tandem partner broke two world records, including the 3 km pursuit, smashing 3 seconds off the world record time. The pair won two bronze medals at the 2004 Athens Games in the Women's Road Race / Time Trial Tandem B1-3 and the Women's Individual Pursuit Tandem B1-3.
Claire McLean is an Australian Paralympic cyclist and paratriathlete. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics when paratriathlon made its debut at the Paralympics.
Toireasa Gallagher née Ryan is an Australian cyclist. She was born in the New South Wales city of Bathurst. Before the 2004 Athens Paralympics, she piloted Lindy Hou in the tandem pursuit and road races; after the games, she was Hou's sole pilot. At the Athens Games, she won two silver medals in the Women's Road Race / Time Trial Tandem B1–3 and Women's Individual Pursuit Tandem B1–3 events. At the 2006 IPC World Cycling Championships, she won two gold medals. At the 2008 Beijing Games, she won a silver medal in the Women's Individual Pursuit B VI 1–3 event and a bronze medal in the Women's 1 km Time Trial B VI 1–3 event.
Anthony John Biddle is an Australian Paralympic tandem cyclist and athlete. He was born in the New South Wales city of Gosford. He competed in athletics without winning any medals at the 1996 Atlanta Games and the 2000 Sydney Games. At the 2004 Athens Games, he switched to cycling and won a gold medal in the Men's 1 km Time Trial Tandem B1–3 event, for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia, and a bronze medal in the Men's Sprint Tandem B1–3 event. Kial Stewart was his pilot for both events.
Janelle Mary Lindsay, OAM is an Australian Paralympic tandem cycling pilot. She was born in the New South Wales city of Bathurst. She piloted Lindy Hou for sprints and kilo events at the 2004 Athens Games. At the games, she won a gold medal in the Women's Sprint Tandem B1–3 event and a bronze medal in the Women's 1 km Time Trial Tandem B1–3 event.
Kial Douglas Stewart, OAM is an Australian Paralympic tandem cyclist, who was Anthony Biddle's pilot at the 2004 Athens Games. He was born in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. At the games, he won a gold medal in the Men's 1 km Time Trial Tandem B1–3 event, for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia, and a bronze medal in the Men's Sprint Tandem B1–3 event.
Teresa "Terri" Hilda Poole, OAM is an English-born Australian Paralympic tandem cyclist with a vision impairment. She was born in the English city of Manchester. She competed at the 1996 Atlanta Games, where she won two gold medals in the Women's Individual Pursuit Tandem open and the Women's Kilo Tandem open track cycling events, for which she received a Medal of the Order of Australia. Her pilot was Sandra Smith. She competed in the Women's 50/60k Tandem open event for road cycling but did not medal.
Paratriathlon classification is the classification system for athletes participating in paratriathlon. It is governed by the World Triathlon. The sport has been included in the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
Karen Darke,, FRSGS is a British paralympic cyclist, paratriathlete, adventurer and author. She competed at the 2016 Rio Paralympics winning Gold in the Women's road time trial, following her success in the 2012 London Paralympics winning a silver medal in the Women's road time trial H1-2.
Kathleen Margaret "Katie" Kelly is an Australian paratriathlete, who has a degenerative disease known as Usher syndrome. Kelly began competing in the PT5 paratriathlon classification in February 2015 when her condition deteriorated to a legally blind state. She has just 30 per cent of her vision. With her guide Michellie Jones, Kelly won gold medals at the 2015 and 2017 ITU World Championships and 2016 Rio Paralympics. She competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Kate Næss is an Australian paraequestrian and paratriathlete. She won a bronze medal at the 2015 World Triathlon Grand Final. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics when paratriathlon made its debut at the Paralympics.
Lauren Parker is an Australian para-triathlete and para-cyclist. She won a silver medal (triathlon) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and two gold and silver (cycling) medals at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
Megan Fisher is a Canadian-American Paralympic athlete. She has won one gold, two silver, and one bronze medal for Team USA at the Paralympic Games.
Tone Gravvold is a Norwegian cross-country skier and biathlete, and since 1998, also a cyclist. She won a dozen medals in the Paralympic Games in which she competed at between 1994 and 2006. In 2019, she was named Sportsperson of the Century for Møre og Romsdal.
