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| Born | 20 August 1986 Middelburg, South Africa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Discipline | Track | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Jaco-Albert van Gass MBE (born 20 August 1986) is a South African-born British racing cyclist who competes in para-cycling track events. He won two gold medals and one bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. He is a three times world record holder in Track cycling.
Van Gass was born in South Africa. At the age of 20, he moved to the UK to join the British Armed Forces. In mid-2007, he finished his training and became a member of the Parachute Regiment. [1] During his second deployment to Afghanistan in 2009, he was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, losing his lower left arm, puncturing internal organs, and suffering a collapsed lung, shrapnel and blast wounds, and leg fractures. [2]
Van Gass first learned to ski and took part in competitions as a member of the Combined Services Disabled Ski Team. In 2011, he was the first South African-born person to conquer the eighth highest mountain in the world at 8,164 metres, the Manaslu in the Himalayas. In 2012, he made an attempt to climb Mount Everest, which failed due to poor weather conditions. In the meantime, he has also successfully completed marathons. [1]
In December 2013, van Gass was part of a group of disabled soldiers who, together with Prince Harry, completed a 335-kilometre march to the South Pole for the benefit of the aid organization Walking With The Wounded. This raised £1.5 million in donations that were to be used for the athletic rehabilitation of wounded soldiers. [3]
Van Gass then turned his interest to cycling and was accepted into the Paralympic Development Program in 2013. At the Invictus Games in September 2014, he won two gold medals in cycling. [4] Since the end of 2014, he has been participating in the Paralympic Academy Program of British Cycling. [5]
Van Gass made his debut at the 2015 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships and finished seventh in the individual pursuit and eighth in the 1,000 metre time trial. [5] At the 2016 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Montichiari, Italy, he won the bronze medal in the scratch race. Two years later, at the 2018 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, he finished third in the individual pursuit. In 2020, he won a silver medal in the pursuit and gold medals in the kilo, scratch race and omnium.
At the 2020 Summer Paralympics, van Gass won the gold medal in the men's individual pursuit C3, mixed team sprint C1–5 and the bronze medal in the men's time trial C1–3. [6]
Van Gass was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to cycling. [7]
Jody Alan Cundy, is an English cyclist and former swimmer. He has represented Great Britain at seven Summer Paralympics winning eight Gold, one Silver and three Bronze medals across swimming and cycling events. He has also competed in multiple World Championships, winning 23 world titles, the most recent coming at the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland in August 2023.
Dame Sarah Joanne Storey, is a British Paralympic athlete in cycling and swimming, and a multiple gold medalist in the Paralympic Games, and six times British (able-bodied) national track champion. Her total of 28 Paralympic medals including 17 gold medals makes her the most successful and most decorated British Paralympian of all time as well as one of the most decorated Paralympic athletes of all time. She has the unique distinction of winning five gold medals in Paralympics before turning 19.
Michael Thomas Gallagher, OAM is an Australian Paralympic cyclist from Scotland. He has won gold medals at the Beijing and 2012 London Paralympics. He was selected in the Australian team for the 2016 Rio Paralympics. The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency (ASADA) revealed that Gallagher had returned a positive A sample for erythropoietin (EPO) in an out-of-competition training camp in Italy in July 2016. This A positive disqualified him from the Rio Paralympics.
David Nicholas, is an Australian cyclist. He won silver and gold medals at the 2012 London Paralympics and a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Simone Kennedy is an English-born Australian cyclist. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and won a silver medal in the individual pursuit C1-3. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Susan "Sue" Powell, is an Australian cyclist. At the 2012 London Paralympics, she won a gold medal in the Women's Individual Pursuit C4, setting a new world record in the process, and a silver medal in the Women's Individual Pursuit C4. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Powell won the silver medal in the 3 km Women's Individual Pursuit C4.
Amanda Reid is an Australian Paralympic swimmer, cyclist and snowboarder. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in swimming. At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, she won a silver medal in the Women's 500 m Time Trial C1–3 and at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics a gold medal in the 500 m Time Trial C1–3. In 2023, she won a gold medal at the 2023 World Para Snowboard Championships.
Mark Lee Colbourne MBE is a former Welsh paralympic-cyclist, who competed for both Wales and Great Britain.
Alistair Donohoe is an Australian cyclist, who currently rides for Australian club team Blackburn CC. Following a right arm impairment in 2009, Donohoe became a multiple medallist at the UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships and UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships. He won two silver medals at the 2016 Summer Paralympics and a silver and bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Louis Rolfe is a British Paralympic track cyclist competing in C2 classification events. Rolfe came to note as a cyclist during the 2016 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships where he was part of the gold medal-winning British team sprint event along with fellow cyclists Jon-Allan Butterworth and Jody Cundy.
Stephen Stanley Bate is a New Zealand–British Paralympic cyclist who competes in tandem races as an athlete with a visual impairment. Since 2014, Bate has been piloted by Adam Duggleby. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, the pair won gold in the men's individual pursuit B and men's road time trial B, and bronze in the men's road race B.
Adam Christopher John Duggleby is a British cyclist. He represented Great Britain at the 2016 Rio Paralympics as a sighted pilot for visually impaired cyclist Stephen Bate, whom he was paired with in January 2014. The pair won gold in the men's individual pursuit B and men's road time trial B, and bronze in the men's road race B.
Meg Lemon is an Australian Paralympic cyclist. She represented Australia at the 2020 Summer Paralympics where she won a bronze medal.
Darren Michael Hicks is an Australian Paralympic cyclist who has won medals at several World Road and Track Championships. His right leg was amputated above the knee as a consequence of a road crash in 2014. At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, he won a gold and a silver medal.
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 all sixteen consecutive Summer Paralympics since 1960.
Paige Greco is an Australian Paralympic cyclist who won gold medals at the 2019 World Track Championships in C1-3 women's pursuit 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. She broke the World Record setting a new one of 3:52.283 in the 3000m individual pursuit at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Emily Petricola is an Australian Paralympic cyclist. She is a world record holder, gold medallist at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympicsand multiple gold medallist at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships.
Jamie Whitmore Cardenas is a former American triathlete turned para-cyclist. Whitmore began her sports career competing in the XTERRA Triathlon throughout the 2000s. As a XTERRA triathlete, she won over thirty events and was the XTERRA world champion in 2004. After being diagnosed with spindle cell sarcoma in 2008, Whitmore moved to para-cycling in the 2010s and competed in championships held by the Union Cycliste Internationale.
Tristen Chernove is a Canadian retired Para cyclist and entrepreneur.
Benjamin Michael Watson is a British para cyclist competing in road, time trial and track cycling events in the C3 category.
