 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 medals at the 2004 Athens and 2012 London Paralympics. He was a member of the Roller at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, his sixth Games. [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] At the 2024 Paris Paralympics, he was a member of the Rollers that finished fifth with a win/loss record of 3-3. [14]
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. [15] 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 [16] [17] [18] and 2014 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships. [19] In 2018, he was a member of the Rollers that won the bronze medal at 2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Hamburg, Germany. [20]
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. [21] When playing for the Roller Hawks, he wears the number 9. [21] In 2003, the Wollongong Roller Hawks, competed in the NWBL Championship and won. [4] [22] In the first game of the 2011 season against the Perth Wheelcats, he scored 44 points. [23] His team went on to beat the Perth Wheelcats in the 2011 NWBL Championship. In the finals game, he scored 48 points. [24]
In 2010, Knowles was playing club basketball with Valladolid in Spain. [25] He was the team's season MVP in 2011. [26]
In 2002, Knowles was named the New South Wales Wheelchair Basketballer of the Year. [22] In 2004, Knowles and Brendan Dowler received the Illawarra Mercury Sports Star of the Year Award. [22]
