Earle Connor (born July 30, 1976) is a Canadian

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 ...

amputee Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indiv ...

sprinter. Connor holds several athletics world records in the class of T42, or above-knee, amputee.

Biography

Early life

Earle Connor was born July 30, 1976 in Castlegar, British Columbia to Dave and Diane Connor. Because he was born without a left

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity i ...

, his left leg was amputated above-the-knee when he was 3 months old. At the age of 9 months Earle was fitted with his first prosthetic leg. Growing up in rural

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

, Connor played all available sports, excelling at hockey, tennis and baseball, and graduated from

Rosthern Junior College RJC High School (Rosthern Junior College) is an independent high school in Rosthern, Saskatchewan, Canada since 1905. Opening in that year as the German-English Academy, it was founded by Mennonite settlers in response to a need for trained teacher ...

. Connor was the first amputee ever drafted into the Canadian Junior Hockey system as a goaltender.

Paralympic career

Connor was inspired by watching television coverage of the

1996 Summer Paralympics The 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, were held from August 16 to 25. It was the first Paralympics to get mass media sponsorship, and had a budget of USD $81 million. It was the first Paralympic Games where Internatio ...

to become an amputee sprinter with the goal of competing at the 2000 Summer Paralympics. At the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney, he took gold in the 100-metre final, but finished second in the 200 metres when a misstep on the first corner cost him a few seconds. He returned to the Paralympics in 2008, winning gold in the men's T42 100 m sprint and setting a new Paralympic record time of 12.32 seconds.

Performance Enhancing Drug Suspensions

In 2004 he had tested positive for

nandrolone Nandrolone, also known as 19-nortestosterone, is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) which is used in the form of esters such as nandrolone decanoate (brand name Deca-Durabolin) and nandrolone phenylpropionate (brand name Durabolin). Nandrolon ...

and

testosterone Testosterone is the primary sex hormone and anabolic steroid in males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of male reproductive tissues such as testes and prostate, as well as promoting secondary sexual characteristi ...

and received a two-year ban, which caused him to miss the

2004 Paralympic Games ) , 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 ...

. The resulting sanction was decreased from 4 years to 2 years due to the positive test being attributed to his physician prescribed medication. In 2015 he tested positive for testosterone for a second time in his career despite the fact he had previously submitted his retirement papers , resulting in a ban from competition for four years by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport after

was found in a urine sample. He kept several bottles of clean urine in a bar fridge at a former roommate's house that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from and is due back in court yet again in May 2023 after failing to pay it back.

Awards

*1997: Canadian Disabled Athlete of the Year (also won in 1998 and 1999) *2000: *rescinded following positive drug tests *2004: *rescinded following positive drug tests

References

External links

Canadian Paralympic Committee – Profiles – Earle ConnorEarle Connor – Team OssurEarle
1976 births Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Canadian amputees Laureus World Sports Awards winners Paralympic track and field athletes of Canada Paralympic gold medalists for Canada Paralympic silver medalists for Canada Sportspeople from Castlegar, British Columbia Canadian male sprinters World record holders in Paralympic athletics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Sprinters with limb difference Paralympic sprinters
Connor – Criminal
{{authority control