| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's boccia | ||
Representing  Great Britain | ||
| Paralympic Games | ||
 | 2024 Paris | Individual BC4 |
Stephen McGuire (born 18 August 1984) is a Scottish Boccia player from Bellshill, Scotland. [1]
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's boccia | ||
| Representing Great Britain | ||
| Paralympic Games | ||
| 2024 Paris | Individual BC4 |
Stephen McGuire (born 18 August 1984) is a Scottish Boccia player from Bellshill, Scotland. [1]
McGuire was born on 18 August 1984, in Bellshill to a Scottish father and mother. [1] He was born with muscular dystrophy, a degenerative condition that means he requires the use of a wheelchair. [2]
McGuire is known to work in the community, helping with disabled young people and is an ambassador for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign. He has recently attended his fourth Paralympic Games in Paris, where he won gold in the BC4 individual category.
He competes in the BC4 classification. In pairs events, he was most successful with his brother Peter who also has muscular dystrophy. [2]
McGuire is the most successful British BC4 Boccia athlete; a ten-time Scottish Champion, thirteen-time British Champion, four-time European Champion, and former World Champion. In his early career and competing with his elder brother Peter he won the gold medal in the BC4 pairs event at the 2009 European Championships held in Porto, Portugal. In 2010, they won the silver medal at the World Championships in Lisbon, Portugal. [1] Other major championship medals include European Silver from Hamar, Norway 2011 as well as retaining European Gold in the Pairs event in 2013, multiple World Open medals in Povoa Portugal, Montreal Canada and reaching the pinnacle of his career by securing the World Championship Individual Gold medal in Beijing 2016. [3]
In 2012 both Stephen and Peter were selected as part of the Boccia squad for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics. [4] In the lead up to the games they participated in a documentary detailing their journey through life and into sport., [5] marking his first games. Subsequently competing in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.
Boccia is a precision ball sport, similar to bocce, and related to bowls and pétanque. The name "boccia" is derived from the Latin word for "boss" – bottia. The sport is contested at local, national and international levels, by athletes with severe physical disabilities. It was originally designed to be played by people with cerebral palsy but now includes athletes with other severe disabilities affecting motor skills. In 1984, it became a Paralympic sport and as of 2020, 75 boccia national organizations have joined one or more of the international organizations. Boccia is governed by the Boccia International Sports Federation (BISFed) and is one of two Paralympic sports that have no counterpart in the Olympic program, although it is a Paralympic variant of bocce (boules).
Peter McGuire is a British Boccia player from Hamilton, Scotland.
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Boccia at the 2016 Summer Paralympics was held in Riocentro, in the Barra district of Rio de Janeiro in September 2016, with a maximum of 104 athletes competing in seven events. The programme consisted of four individual events, two pairs events, and one team event, spread across four classifications.
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