Personal information | |
---|---|
Education | Exhall Grange School |
Occupation(s) | British paralympic runner (1984–2004) Physiotherapist |
Medal record |
Noel Thatcher MBE is a British Paralympic runner who represented the United Kingdom at six Paralympic Games between 1984 and 2004, collecting a total of five gold medals. His two career highlights are winning gold and setting a world record at Barcelona in 1992, and winning the 5k race in Sydney in 2000, again setting a world record. At the 2004 Games in Athens, he carried the flag for the Great Britain team at the opening ceremony. [1]
Thatcher, who is visually impaired, attended a mainstream primary school where he encountered difficulties with his studies because of his vision. At ten he was sent to Exhall Grange School near Coventry, a specialist school for visually impaired students, and it was here that he developed his athletic skills. Thatcher has said that he was made to run five miles every day for a month as a punishment after he was caught smoking aged twelve, and this helped him to become a proficient runner. [2]
He made his athletics debut at seventeen at a national school championships after being persuaded to attend by a friend, and won a gold medal. He went on to represent the United Kingdom at the Paralympics in 1984, winning silver in the B3 400m. [3]
At the 1988 Seoul Paralympics, Thatcher won gold in the B2 800m and silver in the B2 1500m, behind Mariano Ruiz of Spain. [4]
Four years later at Barcelona 1992, he took the gold medal in the B2 1500m; the silver in the B1-B3 4 × 400m relay alongside Simon Butler, Andrew Curtis and Mark Whiteley; and the bronze in the B2 800m. [5]
Thatcher was a double gold medal winner at Atlanta 1996, triumphing in the T11 5000m and 10,000m. [6]
At the 2000 Sydney Games, in the T12 class, Thatcher took gold in the 5000m and bronze in the 10,000m. [7]
Thatcher carried the flag for Great Britain at the opening ceremony of Athens 2004, and competed in the T12 5000m and T13 10,000m, narrowly missing out on a medal by finishing fourth in both finals. [8] [9]
Thatcher met his wife Yumi while studying Japanese at London's School of Oriental and African Studies. [2] Away from athletics, Thatcher works as a physiotherapist at the Holly House Hospital in Buckhurst Hill, Essex. [2]
His achievements at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta led to him being appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1997 New Year Honours for services to athletics for disabled people. [2] [10] He was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009. [11]
Odair Santos is a visually impaired Paralympian athlete from Brazil competing mainly in T11 classification middle and long-distance events. A veteran of four Paralympics, Santos has won nine Paralympic medals, including five silver medals. Santos is also a four time IPC World champion at the 1,500 metres event, being unbeaten from 2006 to 2015.
Amanda McGrory is an American wheelchair athlete.
Panama made its Paralympic Games début at the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona, with a delegation of two competitors in athletics. It has participated in every subsequent edition of the Summer Paralympics, but never in the Winter Paralympics. Panamanian delegations have always been small, never consisting in more than two competitors.
Somaya Bousaid is a Tunisian Paralympian athlete competing mainly in category T13 middle-distance events.
Elena Pautova is a Paralympian athlete from Russia competing mainly in category T12 middle-distance events. She is a two times Paralympic gold medalist and three times World Championship gold medalist in the 1500m race. Pautova also broke the world record in the T13 5000m event in 2003.
Marcel Eric Hug is a Paralympic athlete from Switzerland competing in category T54 wheelchair racing events. Hug, nicknamed 'The Silver Bullet', has competed in four Summer Paralympic Games for Switzerland, winning two bronze medals in his first Games in Athens in 2004. In 2010 he set four world records in four days, and at the 2011 World Championships he won a gold in the 10,000 metres and four silver medals, losing the gold in three events to long term rival David Weir. This rivalry continued into the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where Hug won two silvers, in the 800m and the marathon. In the 2013 World Championships Hug dominated the field, winning five golds and a silver. During the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, Hug was one of the most consistent competitors in the T54 class, winning two golds, in the 800m and marathon, and two silvers medals, in the 1500m and 5000m.
David Martin Evans, OAM is an Australian Paralympic athlete. He is an arm amputee, and his nickname was 'Clock'.
Sam Rickard is an Australian vision impaired Paralympic athlete. He competed in four successive Paralympic Games 1988 to 2000, winning a bronze medal at the 1992 Barcelona Games. His nickname was 'the Sparrow'.
Alvise De Vidi is a former paralympic athlete from Italy competing mainly in category T51 wheelchair racing events.
Sam Harding is an Australian Paralympic athlete and paratriathlete. His classification is T12 and competed in 400m and the 800m events. He represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and 2020 Summer Paralympics in athletics and has been selected to compete in paratriathlon at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
David Devine is a British Paralympic athlete. Devine competes in T12 and T13 middle-distance track events, and has represented Great Britain in both the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships and the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
The 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships was the biggest track and field competition for athletes with a disability since the 2012 Summer Paralympics. It was held in Lyon, France, and lasted from 20 to 28 July. Around 1,100 athletes competed, from 94 different countries. The event was held in the Stade du Rhône located at the Parc de Parilly in Vénissieux, in Lyon Metropolis.
El Amin Chentouf, is a Moroccan para-athlete running in T12 distance races. He has represented his country at three Summer Paralympics winning gold medals at each competition. Outside the Paralympics, Chentouf is also a world series Marathon champion, winning the T12/13 event at three London Marathons.
Zac Shaw is a British Paralympic visually impaired sprinter who competes in the T12 classification. At the age of nine he became afflicted with stargardt disease. He made his first Great Britain squad for the IPC Athletics World Championships in 2015 . Shaw made the Great Britain squad for the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris after just missing out on both the 2016 Summer Paralympics and 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Natalia Kocherova is Russian Paralympic wheelchair and cross-country skier from Omsk.
Jaryd Clifford is an Australian Paralympic, vision impaired, middle-distance athlete. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in athletics. He won gold medals in the Men's 1500m and 5000m T13 events at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships. Clifford represented Australia at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, where he won silver medals in the Men's 5000m T13 and Men's Marathon T12, and a bronze medal in the Men's 1500 m T13. He has been selected for the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Semih Deniz is a Turkish Paralympics medalist middle distance runner competing in the T11, T12 and T13 class.
Yassine Gharbi is a Paralympic athlete from Tunisia competing in T54 class wheelchair racing. He participated in the 2016 Paralympic Games and is a World Champion in both the 400 and 800 metre races.
Athletics contests were held at the 2007 Parapan American Games from August 13 to 19 at the João Havelange Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Oğuz Akbulut is a Turkish Paralympian athlete competing in the T12 and T13 disability classes sprint and middle-distance events.
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