![]() Tim Matthews finishing his race at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Timothy Shaun Matthews | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | ![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | 29 October 1974 Orbost, Victoria | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Timothy "Tim" Shaun Matthews, OAM [1] (born 29 October 1974) [2] is an Australian Paralympic athlete. He was born in the Victorian town of Orbost with exomphalos, a condition in which the abdomen develops outside the body; in his case, the condition affected other organs, including his liver. [3] he was also born without a left arm and with some webbed fingers. [3] He spent much of his early life at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital because the membrane protecting his exposed organs ruptured when he was two days old. [3]
At the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics, he won a gold medal in the Men's 4x100 m Relay T42-46 event, [4] for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia. [1] At the 2000 Sydney Games, he won gold medals and broke world records in the men's 4x100 m relay T46 and men's 4x400 m relay T46 events and bronze medals in the men's 100 m T46 and men's 200 m T46 events. [4] [5] That year, he received an Australian Sports Medal. [6] At the 2004 Athens Games, he came seventh in the first heat of the Men's 100 m T46 - event and did not make the final. [7]
Since 2008, Matthews has been the Australian Paralympic Committee's Manager for Pathways and Development. [8] [9] [10] [11] As part of this role, he manages the APC's Paralympic Talent Search program in Victoria and Tasmania. [12]
He coaches 2012 Paralympians Kelly Cartwright, Katy Parrish and Jack Swift, [13] [14] and is former coach of Paralympian Michelle Errichiello. [15]
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