Bartholomew Bunting (born 19 July 1976) is an Australian blind Paralympic alpine skier. He started skiing in 1998 with his guide Nathan Chivers. He won two gold medals and a silver medal with Chivers at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Paralympics and competed at the 2010 Vancouver Paralympics.

Personal

Bunting was born on 19 July 1976, and has been blind since birth. Bunting attended the secondary school

Oakhill College , motto_translation = With God as our leader , location = Castle Hill, Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia Sydney , pushpin_im ...

. He has a degree in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

from the University of Technology, Sydney. He was featured on the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

's ''X Paralympic Games'' in March 2010. In 2022, Bunting was living in the New South Wales north coast town of Nimbin with his wife and two children. He works in information technology remotely.

Skiing

Bunting skied with his guide Nathan Chivers, whom he has known since high school. He began skiing in 1998 at a "tryout camp" for people with disabilities. He found it difficult at first, but in 2000, he won a gold medal in the downhill and giant slalom at the

IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships The World Para Alpine Skiing Championships, known before the 2017 edition as the IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships, along with the Winter Paralympic Games, are the most prestigious level of international competition in Paralympic alpine skiing ...

Anzère Anzère is a small village in the canton of Valais, Switzerland, located in the municipality of Ayent Ayent is a municipality in the district of Hérens in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. History The Ayent area is first mentioned in 1 ...

, Switzerland. From 2001 to 2003 and in 2009, he had an

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

scholarship for alpine skiing. Bunting won two gold medals at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games in the downhill B1–3 and super-G B1–3 events, and a silver medal in the giant slalom B1–2 event. Due to these achievements, he carried the Australian flag during the closing ceremony of the Games. Bunting and Chivers retired after 2002 due to Chivers breaking a leg in a motorbike accident. He returned to competition with Chivers in 2009 with the aim of competing at the 2010 Vancouver Games. He competed but did not win any medals at these games with Nathan Chivers as his guide. While he was scheduled to ski in the second run of the giant slalom at the 2010 Games, he withdrew from that competition to focus on the downhill event. He had been in 14th place after his first run. By June 2011, he had retired from elite skiing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunting, Bart 1976 births Australian male alpine skiers Alpine skiers at the 2002 Winter Paralympics Alpine skiers at the 2010 Winter Paralympics Paralympic alpine skiers of Australia Medalists at the 2002 Winter Paralympics Paralympic medalists in alpine skiing Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Visually impaired category Paralympic competitors Australian Institute of Sport Paralympic skiers Skiers from Sydney University of Technology Sydney alumni Australian blind people People educated at Oakhill College Living people