Brian Frederick McNicholl, OAM (born 30 December 1951) is a New Zealand-born Australian Paralympic

powerlifter Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight single-lift effor ...

weightlifter Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lif ...

wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people with varying physical disabilities that disqualify them from playing a non-disabled sport. These include spina bifida, birth defects, cerebral palsy, paralysis due to accident, amputations (of ...

er, and athlete, who won five medals at six Paralympic games from 1976 to 1996.

Personal

McNicholl was born on 30 December 1951 in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, New Zealand, and became a paraplegic after contracting

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...

at the age of eleven months. During school, he was forced to sit in the library while sport lessons were taking place; this fuelled his love for sport. He moved from New Zealand to Australia in 1978.

Career

McNicholl's first and only medal for New Zealand was silver at the 1976 Toronto Games in the Men's Slalom 4 event. At the same games McNicholl competed in the 100 m race, and placed fourth in both shot put and the lightweight weightlifting event. After moving to Australia in 1978, he represented the country at five Paralympics and won three bronze, another silver and a gold medal, all in weightlifting and powerlifting. At the 1980 Arnhem Games, he placed fourth again in the shot put event, was part of the

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 Paralym ...

that came thirteenth at the Games, and won a bronze medal in the Men's Middleweight −75 kg paraplegic weightlifting event. At the 1984 New York/Stoke Mandeville Games, McNicholl finished 4th in the same weight bracket. In 1985, he won his first World Wheelchair Championships. McNicholl won another bronze medal at the 1988 Seoul Games in the Men's Up To 85 kg weightlifting event. In 1991, McNicholl won his second World Wheelchair Weightlifting Championships at the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Isla ...

, US, where he set a world record of . McNicholl's gold medal came at the 1992 Barcelona Games in the Men's Up To 90 kg event with his world record lift of , for which he was awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

. He later said of the win: "Although placed in other Paralympics (before '92), I was inexperienced and didn't quite know how to handle the pressure." In 1994, he set another world record when he lifted , and won his third World Wheelchair Weightlifting Championships in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia. In 1995, he competed at the European Weightlifting Championships in Strasbourg, France, and won a gold medal with a lift of . He was coached by Blagoy Blagoev, and advised by Olympic runner

Herb Elliott Herbert James Elliott (born 25 February 1938) is a former Australian athlete and arguably the world's greatest middle distance runner of his era. In August 1958 he set the world record in the mile run, clocking 3:54.5, 2.7 seconds under the re ...

, who he has known since the 1980s. In 1995, he was an Australian Institute of Sport Athlete with a Disability scholarship holder. His second silver medal, and first for Australia, was at the

1996 Atlanta Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in the Men's Up To 90 kg powerlifting event. Despite being ranked second in the world in 1999, McNicholl retired from competitive lifting a few months before the 2000 Sydney Paralympics due to injury. That year, he received an

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...

Other sports work

McNicholl served as the Chairman of Australian Weightlifting for People With Disabilities. From 1995 to 1998, he was the strength and conditioning coach for Collingwood Football Club. He also spent six years promoting sport in schools for the Victorian Department of Sport and Recreation.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McNicholl, Brian 1951 births Living people Paralympic athletes for Australia Paralympic athletes for New Zealand Paralympic wheelchair basketball players for Australia Paralympic weightlifters for Australia Paralympic weightlifters for New Zealand Paralympic powerlifters for Australia Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for New Zealand Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 1980 Summer Paralympics Weightlifters at the 1976 Summer Paralympics Weightlifters at the 1980 Summer Paralympics Weightlifters at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Weightlifters at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Weightlifters at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Powerlifters at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1976 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1980 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Paralympic medalists in weightlifting Paralympic medalists in powerlifting Australian male wheelchair racers People with paraplegia Sportspeople from Christchurch New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Australia Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Australian Institute of Sport Athletes with a Disability alumni