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| Full name | Stephen James Miller | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 26 May 1980 (age 44) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Stephen James Miller MBE (born 27 May 1980) is a British athlete who competes in the fields of Paralympic club and discus throwing. He has won three gold, one silver, and one bronze medal in the F32/51 club throw at the Paralympics. In Paralympic F32/51 discus he won one bronze medal.
Stephen Miller was born 26 May 1980, [1] in Cramlington, Northumberland. [2] He started participating in athletics at the age of 11. He joined an after-school club, where he met Paralympian Norman Burns. Burns would later become his coach. [3]
He married Rachel Toland in August 2013. He was able to walk down the aisle with her since he had hip replacement surgery the previous October, which he had delayed until after the 2012 London Paralympics. [4]
He worked part-time as a web developer at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead. [3] Miller and his wife founded SMILE Through Sport in 2013. The foundation encourages disabled people to participate in sports. [5] He currently lives in his hometown of Cramlington. [6]
The 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta were Miller's first Paralympic Games. He competed in the F50 club throw, winning with a distance of 25.84 metres. [7] [8] At the age of 16 he became Great Britain's youngest Paralympian or Olympian track and field competitors to win a gold medal. [9]
He won gold in the club throw at the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney. [10]
At the 2000 Games he originally placed fourth in discus with a throw of 14.99 metres. [11] His team lodged a complaint against gold-medal winner Robert Jachimowicz, saying his disability status was improperly classified. Jachimowicz was disqualified, and Miller advanced to the bronze medal position. [12]
Miller competed in the F32/51 club throw at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens. [13] He won the event with a world-record breaking throw of 33.53 metres, [14] beating the record set in 2000 by over seven metres. [15] All six of his attempts would have been long enough to secure the gold medal. [16]
Miller won several medals at the Cerebral Palsy World Championships in 2005, including gold in the F32 club and gold in the F32 discus. [13] [17] He won his third consecutive gold medal for club throwing at the World Championships in 2006. [3]
While training at the Australian Institute of Sport for the 2008 Paralympic Games, Miller broke the F32 club throw world record with a distance of 34.93 metres. [18] [19] Miller had won gold in the club throw in the previous three Paralympic Games. Despite throwing for a personal best of 34.37 metres, he lost to new world-record holder Mourad Idoudi of Tunisia. [20] Miller had owned that record since 1997. [21] He finished the event with a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. [22]
He was selected as captain of the men's athletics squad for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics. [23] He had hip problems that required surgery to fix, and doctors thought he would take about a year to recover. He did not want to miss his home Paralympic Games in London so he competed through the pain. [9] He failed to qualify for the finals. He underwent surgery for his hip following the Games. New Paralympic Committee rules cut off his funding, as only athletes projected to medal at the next Games were funded. [24]
Miller won a silver medal at the 2014 European Championships. [2]
With his poor performance at the 2012 Paralympics, his goal was to be on the podium at the 2016 Paralympic Games. [25] Initially his mother, who is also his coach, did not have enough funds to travel to the Games. Former Newcastle United owner John Hall donated money to allow her to attend the event. [26] There were ten competitors in the F32 club throw, but four failed to show up to the event prior to the start time. He earned a bronze medal with a season-best throw of 31.58 metres. [27]
He also won a bronze medal at the IPC World Championships in 2017 and a silver medal at the European Championships in 2018. [1]
Miller started a crowdfunding campaign to facilitate training and competition opportunities in a bid to get to the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. [28] He was not selected for the event. [29]
In June 2024, Miller announced he would be retiring at the end of that year's season having not made an international appearance since finishing fourth at European Championships three years earlier. [30] [31]
Miller was awarded the Freedom of Gateshead on 25 June 2013. [32] He was awarded the Freedom of Gateshead. He was awarded the Freedom of Cramlington on 7 February 2014. [6]
Miller was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to sport. [33]
Stephen Robert Eaton, OAM is an Australian athlete with cerebral palsy from Toowoomba, Queensland who competes at the national and international level in discus throwing and shot put at events such as the Paralympic Games and IPC Athletics World Championships.
Algeria made its Paralympic Games début at the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona, sending two competitors in athletics, and a goalball team. The country has taken part in every edition of the Summer Paralympics since then, but has never participated in the Winter Paralympics.
Tunisia made its Paralympic Games debut at the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul. It was represented by a single athlete, Monaam Elabed, who won two bronze medals in athletics. The country has competed in every subsequent edition of the Summer Paralympics, although it has never taken part in the Winter Paralympics. Tunisian competitors have only ever taken part in athletics events, with the sole exception of Dalila Tabai who competed in powerlifting in 2000.
Louise Ellery is an Australian Paralympic track and field athlete, Commonwealth Games gold medalist and former world record holder in F32 Shot put for elite athletes with a disability. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, she won a bronze medal.
Katherine Proudfoot is a cerebral palsy athlete from Australia competing mainly in throwing events. She competed in the F36 classification at the 2008, 2012 and the 2016 Summer Paralympics, winning medals at each Game. Following a medical review request in early 2017, she now competes in seated throws in the F32 classification. At the 2017 Australian Athletics Championships she threw 7.04m in the Women's Shot Put Secured event, bettering the Women's F32 shot put world record mark of 6.55m.
Hamish Anderson MacDonald, OAM is an Australian Paralympic athlete. He was born in Melbourne and lives in Canberra. He has cerebral palsy. His achievements and advocacy have made him one of Australia's most respected Paralympians.
Tom Leahy is a paralympic athlete from Ireland competing mainly in category BC2 Boccia events and F32 throwing events. Leahy competed in eight Paralympic Games. He won three Paralympic gold medals, three silver medals, and two bronze medals.
Brydee Moore is an Australian athlete with cerebral palsy that competes in the shot put, discus and javelin. She won a silver medal at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in athletics.
Aled Siôn Davies is a Welsh Paralympian athlete competing mainly in category F42 throwing events. In 2012 he became the world record holder of the F42 shot put and in the 2012 Summer Paralympics he took the bronze medal in shot put and gold in the discus. In 2013 Davies took the World Championship gold in both the shot put and discus in Lyon. He won double gold in his home country at the 2014 IPC Athletics European Championships in the shot put and discus. This followed his silver medal in the F42-44 discus from the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow where he represented Wales. Davies also took part in the Channel 4 TV series Celebrity SAS: Who dares wins
Beverley Jones is a Paralympian from Wales competing in category F37 throwing events. Jones won a bronze medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games as an EAD in the 100m sprint. Jones has qualified for four Summer Paralympics from 2000 to 2012 finishing fourth twice, in the sprint in 2000 at Sydney and in the shot put at Athens in 2004.
Josie Rachel Pearson MBE is a Paralympian wheelchair rugby player and athlete from England. Pearson represented Great Britain in the 2008 Summer Paralympics, becoming the first women to compete in wheelchair rugby for her country at the Paralympics. After competing as a sprint athlete, Pearson switched to throwing events and qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympics in both discus and club throw in the F51 class, eventually taking the gold in discus with a world record distance.
Kieran Tscherniawsky is a Paralympian athlete from England competing mainly in category F33 discus. In 2011, he became the World Junior Champion in the discus and qualified for the Great Britain team at the 2012 Summer Paralympics. He was a repeat member of the team at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
Gemma Louise Prescott is a British Paralympian track and field athlete competing in F32 throwing events. Prescott represented England in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, taking the bronze medal in the SP shot put. She has represented the Great Britain team twice in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing and the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.
Joanna Butterfield, is a British parasport athlete who competes in the F51 club and discus throw. In 2014 Butterfield set a European record in the club while winning the event at the 2014 IPC Athletics European Championships. The following year she added the World title at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Qatar, securing a place at the 2016 Paralympic Games. She went on to set a World record in the Club throw event while winning Gold at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. In 2023 She switched sport to Wheelchair Curling.
Lahouari Bahlaz is an Algerian track and field athlete who competes in disability athletics in the F32 category. Bahlaz specializes in both the discus and club throw, winning two bronze medals at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.
Mounia Gasmi is a Paralympian athlete from Algeria competing mainly in F32 classification throwing events.
Ekta Bhyan is a para athlete who represents India in the women's Club and Discus throw events. She represented the country at the 2018 Asian Para Games held at Jakarta, Indonesia and won gold medal in the club throw event. She qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, following her second consecutive appearance in the World Para Athletics Championships. She has also represented India at the World Para Athletics Championships 2023, Paris, and won the Bronze medal at Club Throw. She has also competed and won medals in several IPC Grand Prix held at Berlin in 2016, Dubai in 2017, Tunisia in 2018 and Dubai in 2023. Ekta also won a bronze medal at the Asian Para Games held in Hangzhou, China in the Club Throw event.
Mauricio Valencia is a Colombian Paralympic athlete with cerebral palsy. He represented Colombia at the Summer Paralympics in 2012, 2016 and 2021. At the 2016 Summer Paralympics, he won two medals: the gold medal in the men's javelin throw F34 event and the bronze medal in the men's shot put F34 event. In 2021, he won the silver medal in the men's javelin throw F34 event at the 2020 Summer Paralympics held in Tokyo, Japan.
Nathan Maguire is a British wheelchair racer. He won multiple medals at both the 2018 and 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships, and also won the 400 metres mixed class race at multiple British Athletics Championships. Maguire competed in the 4 × 400 metres relay T53/T54 at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, and competed in the 400 metres T54, 800 metres T54 and mixed 4 × 100 metres relay events at the delayed 2020 Summer Paralympics. He was part of the British team that won a silver medal in the 2020 Paralympic mixed 4 × 100 metres relay. He also competed for England at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and won the 1500 metres T54 event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Columba Blango is a British parasports runner, who came third at the 400 metres T20 event at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. He won the 400 metres T20 event at the 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships, and the 200 metres T20 event at the 2021 British Grand Prix.
