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.
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.
Tom Leahy is from Ballyhooly in County Cork, Ireland. [1] He is a painter, and his paintings have been featured in children's books, and he has sold his paintings in exhibitions. [2]
Leahy has competed in eight Paralympic Games across boccia and athletics winning a total of eight medals. His first Games were the 1984 Summer Paralympics. In the C2 shot put he threw for 9.51 metres, winning the gold medal. [3] He also competed in the C2 club throw, finishing with a result of 18.98 metres. He finished behind and placed second. [4]
In the 1988 Summer Paralympics he won a silver in the shot put and a bronze in the club throw. He also won a gold in the individual boccia. He was the first Irish medalist in boccia. [5] He competed with the Irish boccia team that was eliminated in group play. [6]
In the 1992 Summer Paralympics he competed on Ireland's C1-C2 mixed team. They advanced to the semifinal round, where they were defeated by the Spanish team 4–3. They lost to the South Korean team in the bronze medal match, so the Irish time originally finished in fourth place. However, during the medal ceremony the South Korean team protested and threw down their medals. [7] They were disqualified and Ireland was awarded the bronze medal. [8]
The 1996 Summer Paralympics saw him compete in the team and individual boccia events. [9] In the mixed team C1-C2 competition, Ireland completed pool play with a record of 3–2 and did not advance to the semifinals. [10]
In the C2 mixed individual boccia event, Leahy advanced past the preliminary round pool with a 4–1 record. He made it to the finals and lost to Maria Rodriguez of Spain 9–1. [11] [9] He finished with a silver in the event. [12]
In the 2000 Summer Paralympics he returned to the track, competing in the F51 club throw and F51 discus. He originally placed second in discus with a throw of 16.05 metres, [13] but was promoted to a gold medal finish when Polish Paralympian Robert Jachimowicz was disqualified for being entered in the wrong class. [14] His throw set a world record. [15]
He set a personal best in the club throw but did not finish on the podium. [1]
He stayed in athletics in 2004 Summer Paralympics, competing in the F32 shot put. He finished in seventh place with a distance of 5.96 metres. [16] His was below his personal and season best of 6.48 metres. [17]
He began to train exclusively for boccia due to a hip injury. He competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in the BC2 mixed individuals. He was eliminated in the preliminaries and did not advance to the quarterfinals after his performance in Group B. Leahy lost to Dan Bentley and Risa Kainuma on the first day of competition and defeated Fernando Ferreira on the second, finishing with a 1–2 record. [18] He cited his performance to a headache. [19] [2]
After the individual competition, he competed in the BC1-BC2 boccia mixed team event. They defeated Finland and lost to Spain in group play, advancing them to the quarterfinals. They lost to host-nation China 12–2 and were eliminated. [20] [21]
Leahy competed in the BC1-2 boccia mixed team event in the 2012 Paralympic Games. On 2 September, The team lost their first match 14–3 against South Korea. [22] Later that day they lost to Brazil 11–2, ending their tournament. [23] He retired after these Games, his eighth Paralympics. [24]
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 only two Paralympic sports that have no counterpart in the Olympic program.
Great Britain competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Great Britain sent a delegation of around 400, of which 212 were athletes, to compete in eighteen sports at the Games. The team was made up of athletes from the whole United Kingdom; athletes from Northern Ireland, who may elect to hold Irish citizenship under the pre-1999 article 2 of the Irish constitution, are able to be selected to represent either Great Britain or Ireland at the Paralympics. Additionally some British overseas territories compete separately from Britain in Paralympic competition.
Stephen James Miller MBE 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.
Boccia at the 2008 Summer Paralympics consisted of seven events. The competitions were held in the Beijing National Convention Center from September 7 to September 12.
Boccia has been contested at the Summer Paralympics since the 1984 Games in New York City and Stoke Mandeville. Five boccia events were held at those games, two for men, two for women, and one mixed event where men and women competed together. Since then, all boccia events at the Paralympics have been mixed. Athletes in this sport have cerebral palsy and are given a classification according to the extent of their disability. There were originally two classes, C1 and C2, with C1 corresponding to those with more severe impairment. In 1996 a "C1 with aid device" class was added, and in 2000 the system was changed to have four classes, BC1 through BC4.
Great Britain competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012 as the host nation. A total of 288 athletes were selected to compete along with 13 other team members such as sighted guides. The country finished third in the medals table, behind China and Russia, winning 120 medals in total; 34 gold, 43 silver and 43 bronze. Multiple medallists included cyclist Sarah Storey and wheelchair athlete David Weir, who won four gold medals each, and swimmer Stephanie Millward who won a total of five medals. Storey also became the British athlete with the most overall medals, 22, and equal-most gold medals, 11, in Paralympic Games history.
Zoe Robinson is a British boccia player who won a gold medal in the Team BC1–2 event at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. She went on to win a bronze in the same event at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, UK.
Daniel James Bentley is a Paralympic boccia player with cerebral palsy. At the 2008 Beijing Paralympics he was part of the first British team to win gold at boccia at the Paralympics, in the Team BC1-2 category. He competed again as part of the team for Great Britain at the 2012 London Paralympics, taking bronze in the Team BC1–2 event.
David John Smith is a Paralympian who made his Paralympic debut on the British boccia team that won the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics. He competed for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and did so winning Bronze in the Team BC1–2. and Silver in the BC1 individual event watched by a record Boccia crowd at the Excel arena. David competed for Paralympics GB for a third time in Rio where he won Gold in the individual BC1 event for the first time in his career. David held the 'triple crown' of major tournament wins following his win at the World Championships in Liverpool 2018 until the World Championships in Rio 2022 where he claimed Silver. David is now the holder of three Paralympic Gold Medals, after winning at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, making him the most decorated British Boccia player in history and the first BC1 to defend a Paralympic title, He was selected to carry the GB flag in the Tokyo 2020 closing ceremony.
Pattaya Tadtong is a Thai boccia player. He won a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Paralympics. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics he won gold in the mixed individual BC1 and was on the gold medal-winning Thai team in the mixed team BC1-2. He, along with his 3 teammates, won a gold medal in Boccia in the Mixed Team BC1–2 event.
Pedro Cordero Martín is a Spanish boccia player. He represented Spain at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Paralympics, winning a bronze medal at both the 2004 and 2008 games in the BC1-BC2 boccia team event.
Slovakia competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016.
Singapore competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016.
Daniel Michel is an Australian boccia player. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. He won the bronze medal in the Mixed B3 at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Henrik Jorgensen is a Danish Paralympic athlete and boccia player who has competed in five Paralympic Games.
Great Britain competed in the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan. Originally scheduled to take place between 21 August and 6 September 2020, the Games were postponed to 24 August to 5 September 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. British athletes have competed at sixteen consecutive Summer Paralympics since 1960.
Thailand competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics from 24 August to 5 September 2021. This was the country's tenth appearance at the Paralympic Games.
Jamieson Leeson is an Australian boccia player. She represented Australia at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Zhang Qi is a Chinese boccia player competing in the BC1 classification.
José Carlos Chagas de Oliveira is a Brazilian paralympic boccia player. He participated at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in the boccia competition, being awarded the bronze medal in the mixed individual BC1 event. He also competed at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Paralympics in the boccia competition.