Daniel Brian Crates (born 9 February 1973) is a British former athlete, who specialised in 800m

sprinting Sprinting is running over a short distance at the top-most speed of the body in a limited period of time. It is used in many sports that incorporate running, typically as a way of quickly reaching a target or goal, or avoiding or catching an op ...

. He is a former Paralympic world record holder in this event, and won gold medals in a number of international competitions, including the

Paralympic Games 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 ...

, European Championships and World Championships. He also plays competitive

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

and is a qualified diving instructor. Crates was born in

Orsett Orsett is a village, former civil parish and ecclesiastical parish located within Thurrock unitary district in Essex, England, situated around 5 km north-east of Grays. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1771. History It has historic ...

, Essex. He took up athletics after losing his right arm in a car accident while in Australia in 1994. He competed in T46 (arm amputee) events and represented Britain at the

2000 Summer Paralympics The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was last time that the Summer Paralympics which were organized by two different ...

in Sydney – winning the bronze medal in the 400m sprint, and at the

2004 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 136 , athletes = 3,806 , events = 519 in 19 sports , opening = 17 September , closing = 28 September , opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos , cauldron = Georgios Toptsis , stadium = Olympic ...

in Athens where he won gold in the 800m. After Sydney, Crates switched from the 400m to the 800m, in which he holds the world record with a time of 1:53.27 set in 2004 at the

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the officia ...

. Crates also won gold in the 800m race at the European Championships in 2003, and again in 2005. He won gold in the same category at the World Indoor Championships in 2003. He had previously won gold running 400m at the European Championships in 2001. He won gold in the 800m race at the inaugural

Paralympic World Cup The Paralympic World Cup is an annual international multi-sport event for elite athletes with a disability, that has been hosted in Manchester, England, since 2005. It is organized by the British Paralympic Association (BPA) in coordination with t ...

in Manchester in 2004, but did not compete to retain his title in 2008. He also plays competitive

within teams of non-amputee players. Crates carried the Olympic torch in London in 2008 and was selected as flag bearer for the opening ceremony in 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 ...

in Beijing. Crates retired from athletics on 25 July 2009, after competing at the

London Grand Prix The London Diamond League, formerly known as the London Grand Prix and subsequently as the Anniversary Games, is an annual athletics event held in London, England. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Dia ...

at Crystal Palace. He came in third place in his last race and during his career Crates won 11 gold and 1 bronze medals. He was part of the UK

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

commentary team for the

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Paralympics 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 impaired ...

. His autobiography was published in 2012 and is called ''Danny Boy''. Also on

in 2017 he was part of the presenting team at the

2017 BDO World Darts Championship The 2017 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship was the 40th World Championship organised by the British Darts Organisation, and the 32nd staging at the Lakeside Country Club at Frimley Green. Format and qualifiers The cutoff for qualif ...

. Since retiring from athletics, Danny Crates has become a motivational speaker and has made many TV appearances. He is a regular guest reporter on BBC's “Food: Truth or Scare”. Crates took part in the 2015 series of ''

Celebrity MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a competitive cooking reality show produced by Endemol Shine UK and Banijay and broadcast in 60 countries around the world. In the UK, it is produced by the BBC. The show initially ran from 1990 to 2001 and was revived in 20 ...

''.Celebrity Masterchef 2015
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crates, Danny 1973 births Living people Middle-distance runners with limb difference Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Television presenters with disabilities English amputees English autobiographers English male middle-distance runners English male non-fiction writers English motivational speakers English rugby union players English sports broadcasters Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Paralympic athletes of Great Britain Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Rugby union players from Orsett Sportsmen with disabilities Paralympic middle-distance runners