Matt Cowdrey | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Member of the South Australian Parliament for Colton | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assumed office 17 March 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Paul Caica | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Matthew John Cowdrey 22 December 1988 Adelaide,South Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | Liberal Party | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sports career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 182 cm (6 ft 0 in) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Strokes | Freestyle,Backstroke,Butterfly,Medley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Classifications | S9,SB8,SM9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Marion | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Matthew John Cowdrey OAM (born 22 December 1988) 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. [2]
Cowdrey contested and won the seat of Colton at the 2018 state election in South Australia for the Liberal Party. [3]
Cowdrey was born on 22 December 1988 [4] with part of his arm missing [5] due to a congenital amputation. [4] He attended Endeavour College [6] and played basketball when he was younger. [7] He moved to Canberra and started swimming for the Australian Institute of Sport, while continuing to represent the Norwood Swimming Club of Adelaide on the club level. [7] In 2011, he also represented Kawana Waters Swimming Club. [8] As of 2013 [update] , he swims for the Marion Swimming Club. [7]
In April 2015, Cowdrey graduated from the University of Adelaide with a double degree in law and media. [9] [10] In 2013, he undertook a three-month internship with U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. [11] In 2015, at the time of his retirement, he was working for KPMG in Adelaide. [10]
Cowdrey competes in the International Paralympic Committee's S9 (freestyle, backstroke and butterfly,) SB8 (breaststroke), and SM9 (individual medley) classifications, [12] which comprise swimmers with a severe leg weakness, swimmers with slight coordination problems and swimmers with one limb loss. [13] Cowdrey started swimming when he was five years old, and doing so competitively soon after in 1994. [4] He broke his first Australian open record when he was eleven years old, [4] and set his first world record at the age of thirteen. [4]
Cowdrey was one of the youngest Australian competitors at the 2004 Paralympics. [5] At the 2004 Games, he won three gold medals in the men's 4×100-metre medley relay, the 100-metre freestyle S9, and the 200-metre individual medley SM9, [12] for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia. [14] Cowdrew also won silver medals in the 100-metre butterfly S9 and the 4×100-metre freestyle relay, and bronze medals in the 50-metre freestyle S9 and the 400-metre freestyle S9. [12]
At the 2005 Australian Open, Cowdrey set two world records en route to winning seven gold medals and two bronze medals. [15]
At the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games Trials, Cowdrey set world records and won gold medals in four events: the 200-metre individual medley mixed disability classification, the 100-metre backstroke mixed disability classification, the 50-metre backstroke mixed disability classification, and the 50-metre butterfly mixed disability classification. Additionally, he won gold medals in two other events: the 100-metre freestyle mixed disability classification and the 50-metre freestyle mixed disability classification. [15] At the 2006 Commonwealth Games Trials – Team Qualification Races, he won a gold medal and set a world record in the 100-metre freestyle Elite Athlete with a Disability (EAD) event, and won a gold medal in the 50-metre freestyle (EAD) event. [15]
Cowdrey competed at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Victoria, where he set two world records and won gold medals in the 50-metre freestyle and 100-metre freestyle events. [4] He was Australia's only male non-relay individual swimming gold medalist in the 2006 Commonwealth Games. [15] At the 2006 World Championships, he set three world records while winning three gold medals, two silver medals and bronze. [4] In 2008, at the Australian Swimming Championships, he won gold medals four events:the 50-metre freestyle, 100-metre freestyle, 100-metre backstroke and 100-metre butterfly. At those same games, he won two silver medals in the 200-metre individual medley and 400-metre freestyle events. [15] These Games had limited opportunities for Paralympic swimmers as not all events were on the event programme. [16]
At the 2006 IPC Swimming World Championships, in Durban, South Africa, Cowdrey won gold medals in five events: the 50-metre freestyle S9, the 100-metre freestyle S9, the 100-metre butterfly S9, the 200-metre individual medley SM9, and the 4×100-metre medley relay (34 points). He also won silver medals in the 100-metre backstroke S9 and the 4×100-metre freestyle relay (34 points), and a bronze medal in the 400-metre freestyle S9. [17]
At the 2008 Summer Paralympics, Cowdrey picked up five gold medals, winning the 50-metre freestyle S9, 100-metre freestyle S9, 100-metre backstroke S9, 200-metre individual medley-SM9, and 4×100-metre medley relay events, all in world-record time. [12] [4] He won three silver medals in the 100-metre butterfly S9, 400-metre freestyle S9, and 4×100-metre freestyle relay events. [12] He also carried Australia's flag during the closing ceremonies for the Games. [7] For his performance at the Games, Cowdrey won Best Male at the Paralympic Sport Awards. [18]
At the 2009 IPC Short Course World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Cowdrey won seven gold medals and two silver medals. [7] [17] In 2009, he competed in his first international competition against able-bodied swimmers in Tucson, Arizona. [19]
At the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships, Cowdrey, who was classified as an S9 swimmer, won six gold medals and one silver medal. One of the medals was in the men's 4×100-metre relay race. [20] At the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, he won a gold medal in the 50-metre freestyle S9 event in a world record time of 25.33 seconds, which is still standing as of February 2012. [21] [22]
In April 2011, he participated in the Telstra Australian Swimming Championships. [23] In July 2011, he participated at the Australian Short Course Championships. [8] In August 2011, he participated in the Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships. [8] In October 2011, he participated at the 2011 Swimmeroo QLD Long Course. [8] In December, he competed in the Can-Am Swimming Open. A week before the Can-Am Swimming Open, Cowdrey was reclassified for breaststroke from SB9 to SB8. [24] He won a gold medal in the SB8 100-metre breaststroke, with the fourth fastest time posted for the event during 2011 at 1:12.85. [24]
At the 2012 Summer Paralympics, Cowdrey won gold medals in the 100-metre backstroke S9, 50-metre freestyle S9, 100-metre freestyle S9, 200-metre individual medley SM9, and 4×100-metre freestyle relay (34 points). He also won silver medals in the 100-metre butterfly S9 and 100-metre breaststroke SB8, and a bronze medal in the 4×100-metre medley relay (34 points). [12] Cowdrey became Australia's most successful Paralympian with his victory in the men's 50-metre freestyle S9 event at the 2012 London Games, winning his 11th gold medal and 20th medal overall and surpassing Tim Sullivan in gold medal count and Kingsley Bugarin in overall medal count. [25]
In June 2013, Cowdrey confirmed that he would aim to compete at the 2016 Rio Games. He was back living in Glenelg and training at the South Australian Aquatic Centre. [26] Competing at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal, Cowdrey won five gold medals in the 50-metre freestyle S9, 100-metre freestyle S9, 100-metre backstroke S9, 200-metre individual medley SM9, and 4×100-metre freestyle relay (34 points), and a bronze medal in the 100-metre butterfly S9. [27] [28] [29] [30]
At the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Cowdrey won a silver medal in the 100-metre freestyle S9. [31]
On announcing his retirement from swimming on 10 February 2015, Cowdrey stated: "I have been fortunate to have achieved more than I could ever have dreamed of, and more than I set out to achieve, and more importantly I have enjoyed every minute of my time on the Australian swim team." [2] Glenn Tasker, president of the Australian Paralympic Committee, said, "It has been an absolute privilege to watch Matthew develop from the quiet 15-year-old kid who competed at his first Paralympics in 2004, into one of the greats of Australian Paralympic sport. He has become an outstanding ambassador for the Paralympic movement, a leader of the Paralympic swim team and our most successful athlete ever." [2]
Cowdrey was appointed as the team general manager of the Australian team for the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games to be held in Samoa. [32] In 2017, Cowdrey was preselected to run for the Liberal Party in the Labor-held seat of Colton at the 2018 state election in South Australia. [3] He was re-elected as the member for Colton at the 2022 state election despite the election resulting in the Liberal Party losing Government and returning to Opposition. In April 2022 new Liberal leader David Speirs promoted him to the Opposition frontbench as Shadow Treasurer. [33] [34]
In 2004, at the Australian Paralympian of the Year Awards, he was named the Young Paralympian of the Year. [15] In 2006, Cowdrey won the Commonwealth Sports Award in the category of male Elite Athlete with a Disability (EAD). [15] Swimming Australia named him their Swimmer of the Year with a Disability for four years in a row, from 2004 to 2007. [15] He was also named to Swimming Australia's All-Star Swim Team in 2006 and 2007. [15] Swimming World Magazine has named him their "World Swimmer of the Year with a Disability." [15] In 2009, he was named the Young South Australian of the Year. [35] In 2011, he was inducted into the Australian Institute of Sport's "Best of the Best". [36] Cowdrey was a finalist for the 2012 Australian Paralympian of the Year. [37] In 2012, The South Australia Aquatic & Leisure Centre decided to name its main competition pool after Cowdrey. [38] The City of Salisbury gave him the keys to the city in 2013. [39] In October 2014, he was inducted into the Path of Champions at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre. [40] In 2016, he was awarded Speedo Services to the Australian Swim Team at the Swimming Australia Awards. [41] He is an inductee of the Swimming South Australia Hall of Fame. [42] in 2019, he was inducted into Sport Australia Hall of Fame. [43] In 2022, he was inducted into the Paralympics Australia Hall of Fame. [44]
Natalie du Toit OIG MBE is a South African swimmer. She is best known for the gold medals she won at the 2004 Paralympic Games as well as the Commonwealth Games. She was one of two Paralympians to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; the other being table tennis player Natalia Partyka. Du Toit became the third amputee ever to qualify for the Olympics, where she placed 16th in the 10km swim.
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. Following the 2012 London Paralympics, where she won four gold and two bronze medals, Cole underwent two shoulder reconstructions and made a successful return to swimming at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships, winning five medals, including three golds. She subsequently represented Australia at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. In claiming her seventeenth Paralympic medal in Tokyo, Cole became Australia's most decorated female Paralympian with six gold, five silver and six bronze medals from four Paralympic Games.
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Brenden Hall, is an Australian Paralympic swimmer who won two gold medals at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics where he won one gold, one silver and one bronze medal. He competed at 2020 Summer Paralympics, his fourth games.
Matthew John Levy, is a retired Australian Paralympic swimmer. At five Paralympic Games from 2004 to 2020, he has won three gold, one silver and six bronze medals.
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Michael Auprince, is an Australian swimmer and wheelchair basketball player. He set several swimming records and was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London in swimming, where he won gold and bronze medals. He represented the Rollers team at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Taylor Corry is an Australian S14 swimmer. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics, she won two silver medals.
Matthew Anthony "Matt" Haanappel, is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He was born in Wantirna, Victoria and resides in the far eastern suburbs of Melbourne. He has cerebral palsy right hemiplegia. Haanappel has represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships, the 2014 Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships, the 2016 Summer Paralympics, and the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He represents the Camberwell Grammar School Aquatic club.
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Tully Alicia Jacqueline Kearney is a British Paralympic swimmer. Kearney competes in the S5 classification for swimmers with physical disabilities. She won Gold and Silver at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games setting World records in both the 50 m and 100 m freestyle. She has also won medals in three IPC Swimming World Championships winning Bronze in the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships, setting a British record; four Golds, a Silver and a Bronze in the 2015 World Championships setting three European records and becoming GB's highest medal earner of the Championships, and three Golds at the World Para Swimming Championships in 2019, setting three British records and two Championship records. In addition, she won Gold and Bronze at the World Para Swimming European Championships in 2018. Kearney is a multiple British, European and World record holder.
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