Curtis Palmer (born 8 May 1977) is a New Zealand-born

wheelchair rugby Wheelchair rugby (originally murderball, and known as quad rugby in the United States) is a team sport for athletes with a disability. It is practised in over twenty-five countries around the world and is a summer Paralympic sport. The US na ...

player who initially played for the New Zealand national team

Wheel Blacks The Wheel Blacks are the national wheelchair rugby team of New Zealand. The team won the gold medal at the 2004 Paralympic games in Athens. The Wheel Blacks squad is made up from players from different regions around New Zealand. They include Au ...

. In 2013 he switched to play for the

Australia national wheelchair rugby team Wheelchair rugby is a sport with national representation at the Paralympic games. The Australian Team is known as the 'Steelers'. Australia has competed at every Paralympics Games since the sport gained full Paralympic Medal status at the 2000 ...

. Palmer was a part of the Wheel Blacks at each of the first four Paralympic games wheelchair rugby tournament from its beginnings in 1996 as a demonstration event through to the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was f ...

. In that time he has won a gold medal in 2004 and a bronze in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. The Wheel Blacks did not qualify for the 2012 Summer Paralympics. Palmer played for Australia against the Wheel Blacks in the 2013 Tri-Nations competition held in Sydney. He was a member of the Australian team that won its first world championship gold medal at the 2014

World Wheelchair Rugby Championships World Wheelchair Rugby Championships is an international wheelchair rugby competition contested by the national teams of the members of World Wheelchair Rugby ( WWR), the sport's global governing body. The first Wheelchair Rugby World Championsh ...

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. . In addition to his wheelchair rugby playing career, Curtis has been a journalist and TV presenter, and is currently a coach and motivational speaker. He has also authored a book about his life's journey.

Early days

Curtis Palmer was born on 8 May 1977. After his family moved to Australia when Curtis was young he grew up on Sydney's northern beaches and played rugby league in the Manly Warringah District Junior Rugby League. He played junior representative football for the

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

and

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was ...

. He was injured in a rugby league game in Manly in 1992 at the age of fifteen and became a quadriplegic. The following year he embarked on his wheelchair rugby career which has taken him to four Paralympic Games.

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