 Tristan Knowles in 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Tristan Malclom Knowles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Wollongong Roller Hawks | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Tristan Malcolm Knowles, OAM [1] (born 25 April 1983) is an Australian wheelchair basketball player and won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics and silver medal at the 2012 London Paralympics. He competed at 2020 Summer Paralympics and has been selected to compete at his sixth Games in Paris in 2024. [2] [3]
Knowles was born on 25 April 1983 in Wodonga, Victoria. [4] He became an above the knee amputee as a result of cancer. [4] He went to the University of Wollongong where he earned a degree in commerce. [4] When not playing basketball, he is a financial planning manager with the Commonwealth Bank. He established the Tristan Knowles Kids Cancer Foundation. [5]
Knowles first played wheelchair basketball in 1999. [4] He is a 4 point player and plays in the guard-forward position. [5]
Knowles played for the New South Wales U21 state team in the national competition. The state U21 team won the national championships four years in a row with Knowles as the captain. [4]
Knowles's first appearance on the national team was in 2001. [4]
Knowles was part of the silver medal-winning Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team at the 2004 Summer Paralympics. [6] [7] He was also part of the gold medal-winning Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, [8] [6] for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia. [1]
In October 2011, Knowles was named as part of the senior national squad that would compete at the Paralympic qualifying tournament for the 2012 Summer Paralympics. [9] At the 2012 Summer Paralympics he was part of the Australian men's wheelchair team that won silver. [10] In 2016, he was selected for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, his fourth games, [11] where his team, The Rollers, finished sixth. [12]
At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, the Rollers finished fifth with a win–loss record of 4–4. [2] [13]
Knowles was part of the 2006 national squad that finished third at the World Championships. [4] In 2009, he was part of the national side that competed at the Rollers World Challenge. In the match against Japan, he scored 15 points. [14] He was a member of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team that won the gold medal at the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship [15] [16] [17] and 2014 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships. [18] In 2018, he was a member of the Rollers that won the bronze medal at 2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Hamburg, Germany. [19]
Knowles has played professional wheelchair basketball in Australia, Spain and Italy. [4] As of 2011 [update] has played with the Wollongong Roller Hawks for 11 years. [20] When playing for the Roller Hawks, he wears the number 9. [20] In 2003, the Wollongong Roller Hawks, competed in the NWBL Championship and won. [4] [21] In the first game of the 2011 season against the Perth Wheelcats, he scored 44 points. [22] His team went on to beat the Perth Wheelcats in the 2011 NWBL Championship. In the finals game, he scored 48 points. [23]
In 2010, Knowles was playing club basketball with Valladolid in Spain. [24] He was the team's season MVP in 2011. [25]
In 2002, Knowles was named the New South Wales Wheelchair Basketballer of the Year. [21] In 2004, Knowles and Brendan Dowler received the Illawarra Mercury Sports Star of the Year Award. [21]
Bradley John Ness, OAM is an Australian wheelchair basketballer. He won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing and silver medals at 2004 Athens and 2012 London Paralympics. He was selected as the Australian flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. In December 2023, Ness was appointed the Head Coach of the Rollers - Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team.
The Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team is the men's wheelchair basketball side that represents Australia in international competitions. The team is known as the Rollers. Australia took the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games and 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.
Brendan John Dowler, OAM is an Australian Paralympian, and coaches wheelchair basketball.
Justin Cain Eveson, OAM is an Australian swimmer and wheelchair basketball player who has won Paralympic medals in both sports.
Michael Mathew Hartnett, OAM is an Australian wheelchair basketball player who won a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics and the 2010 and 2014 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship.
Adrian John King, OAM is an Australian wheelchair basketball player. He was part of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team at the 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens, and 2008 Beijing Paralympics. He won a silver medal as part of the 2004 team and a gold medal as part of the 2008 team, for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia. He is currently living in Queensland.
Shaun Daryl Norris, OAM is an Australian wheelchair basketball player. He has been selected to compete at the 2024 Summer Paralympics, his sixth Games.
Brett Andrew Stibners, OAM is an Australian wheelchair basketball player who won a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics and the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship. He was a member of the Rollers team that competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, his fourth Games.
David Ian Gould, is an Australian wheelchair basketball player and coach.
John McPhail is a wheelchair basketball player from Australia. He was a member of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team that competed at the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship, winning the gold medal. He was a member of the Rollers team that competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Benjamin James Ettridge is an Australian basketball coach.
Amber Merritt is a 4.5-point wheelchair basketball player who plays forward. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where she won a silver medal and at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo.
Jannik Blair is a 1 point wheelchair basketball player who has played for the University of Missouri and the National Wheelchair Basketball League Dandenong Rangers. He is a member of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team, making his debut in 2009, and was member of the Australian team that won the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in wheelchair basketball. He has been selected for Rollers at the 2024 Summer Paralympics, his fourth Games.
Nick Taylor is a wheelchair basketball player. He competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics playing for the South Africa men's national wheelchair basketball team. He represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in wheelchair basketball, being part of the men's team that won silver. After basketball, he successfully took up wheelchair gold and won the inaugural Australian Wheelchair Golf Championship.
Michael Auprince, is an Australian swimmer and wheelchair basketball player. He set several swimming records and was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London in swimming, where he won gold and bronze medals. He represented the Rollers team at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. Michael is currently on the coaching staff of the University of Alabama Wheelchair Basketball team.
John Triscari is an Australian basketball coach. He was the coach of the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, where the team won a silver medal, and of the Perth Western Stars in the Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL), taking them to a national championship in 2013. He has coached the Rockingham Flames, Mandurah Magic, Cockburn Cougars and South West Slammers in the Western Australian State Basketball League (SBL) and the Perth Wheelcats in the National Wheelchair Basketball League.
Tom Kyle is an Australian wheelchair basketball coach who coaches the Queensland Spinning Bullets and the Australian women's national wheelchair basketball team. He was assistant coach of the Australian men's national wheelchair basketball team from 2009 to 2013, during which time it won gold at the IWBF Wheelchair Basketball World Championship, and silver at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.
Adam Deans is a 4.0 point wheelchair basketball player from Australia. He was part of the Rollers team that won the 2014 Incheon World Wheelchair Basketball Championship, and in 2016, he was selected for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Joshua Allison is a 1.0 point wheelchair basketball player from Australia. He played basketball for the Kilsyth Cobras and the Sherbroke Suns before suffering a serious accident in 2011. He began playing wheelchair basketball in 2013, and was selected for the national team in 2014. That year he was part of the team that won the 2014 Incheon World Wheelchair Basketball Championship. In 2016, he represented Australia the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Shawn Russell is a 4.0 point wheelchair basketball player from Australia. In 2016, he was selected as part of the Rollers for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
