Christopher Ian Scott, OAM (born 29 October 1968) is a former Australian

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

cyclist Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

. He has won ten medals at six Games from 1988 to 2008.

Personal

Scott was born in

Gympie Gympie ( ) is a city and a Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. In the Wide Bay-Burnett District, Gympie is about north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city lies on the Mary River (Queen ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, with

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensa ...

, as the youngest of three children. and moved to Brisbane with his family when he was two years old. At the age of eight, a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

coach refused to let him join his team because he could not kick the ball with his right foot as well as he could with his left, a rule not enforced on able-bodied players. He consequently joined the next age group's soccer team so he could play with his brother. Scott attended Salisbury State High School and it was here where he began to participate more in sport and became involved in the

Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association The Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association is the peak body for sport, recreation and fitness for people with a physical disability or visual impairment, vision impairment in the Australian state of Queensland. The not-for-profit organisatio ...

. He works as a records clerk in the Brisbane suburb of Sunnybank. He has been married to Karen since March 2008 and has a stepdaughter.

Career

070908 - Chris Scott ind pursuit gold - 3b - crop

Scott first competed at the Paralympics in 7-a-side Football at the 1988 Seoul Games. He also competed in athletics in the 1992 Paralympics in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. He switched to cycling due to a broken ankle. At the 1996 Atlanta games, he won a gold medal in the Mixed 5,000 m Time Trial Bicycle CP Div 4 event, and a silver medal in the Mixed 20k Bicycle CP Div 4 event. In 1998 and 1999, he held 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 ...

Athlete with a Disability scholarship. At the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, he won a gold medal in the Mixed Bicycle Time Trial CP Div 4 event and a bronze medal in the Mixed Bicycle Road Race CP Div 4 event. At the

2004 Athens Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, Scott was the male captain for the Australian Paralympic team. In the Men's Team Sprint LC1-4/CP 3/4 event at the 2004 Games, Scott, the captain of the Australian cycling team, relinquished his place in the team in the finals so that fellow cyclist

Peter Homann Peter David Homann, OAM (born 16 February 1960) is a former Australian Paralympic cyclist. He has won seven medals at three Games from 1996 to 2004. Personal Homann was born with cerebral palsy on 16 February 1960 in the Victorian town of Yal ...

could get a chance to win a gold medal at his last Paralympics; the Australian team won the event so Homann received the gold medal along with Scott and the rest of the team. In a 2008 interview, he said of this action: "I already had my gold medal. It's what you do in a team. Peter deserved his chance on the podium." He won two further gold medals in the Men's Road Race / Time Trial Bicycle CP Div 4 and Men's Individual Pursuit Bicycle CP Div 4 events at the 2004 Games. At the

2008 Beijing Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

, he won a gold medal in the Men's Individual Pursuit CP4 event, a silver medal in the Men's Individual Time Trial CP4 event and a bronze medal in the Men's 1 km Time Trial CP4 event. The year before these Games, he had had back surgery and then was struck down by a car. He announced his retirement from Paralympic competition in Beijing due to "old age". He has since become an ambassador for the Cerebral Palsy League.

Recognition

In 1997, Scott received a

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 ...

for his 1996 Paralympic gold medal. In 2000, Scott 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 ...

. He received the Australian Paralympic Committee's Senior Male Athlete award in 2002, and Sporting Wheelie of the Year in 2002 and 2005. He also won the Australian Male Disabled Cyclist of the Year awards for four consecutive years from 2002 to 2005, and was the 2005 Australian Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability. Scott was crowned Queensland Cyclist of the Year in 2008. In 2015, he was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was interviewed by Ian Jobling in the Australian Centre for Paralympic Studies oral history project of the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

. In 2016, he was inducted into the Cycling Australia Hall of Fame.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Christopher 1968 births Living people Australian male cyclists 7-a-side footballers at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Cyclists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Paralympic cyclists for Australia Paralympic athletes for Australia Paralympic 7-a-side soccer players for Australia Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Cerebral Palsy category Paralympic competitors Cyclists with cerebral palsy Cyclists from Brisbane People from Gympie Sportsmen from Queensland Australian Institute of Sport Paralympic cyclists Paralympic medalists in cycling Athletes from Brisbane 20th-century Australian people