Gerrard James Gosens (born 3 February 1970) is a vision-impaired Australian Paralympic athlete, goalball player, triathlete, adventurer, chocolatier and motivational speaker.

Personal life

Gosens was born on 3 February 1970 in

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung–Taungurung language, Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the St ...

. He is congenitally blind and became Australia's youngest guide dog recipient at age sixteen. At the age of eleven, his family moved to

Yeppoon Yeppoon is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Livingstone, Queensland, Australia. Yeppoon is renowned for its beaches, tropical climate, and the islands out on the bay. Located from the city of Rockhampton, Yeppoon is the seat of the ...

in Queensland and he attended Yeppoon State High School. He has completed a Business Management degree at Queensland University of Technology (1992–1994) and Bachelor of Journalism at the University of Queensland (1994–1996). From 1994 to 2002, he was employed by the Australian Paralympic Committee. He has been Deputy CEO for Royal Blind Foundation Queensland and worked for

Vision Australia Vision Australia is a not-for-profit organisation and Australia's largest provider of services for people with blindness and low vision. Background Vision Australia was created in 2004 through the merger of 4 smaller blindness organisations: t ...

. In 2019, he was forced to shut down his business 'Chocolate Moments' in Brisbane due to the disruption caused by the Cross River Rail project. He married Heather in 1993 and they have two children, son Jordan and daughter Taylor. Taylor was born with his congenital eyesight condition, and has just four per cent vision. Gosens encourages others with the saying "Every one of us have some sort of obstacle to overcome, instead of letting them getting in the way, we should learn to take advantage of any opportunities we come across".

Sporting career

141100_-_Athletics_track_Gerrard_Gosens_guide_action_-_3b_-_2000_Sydney_race_photo

Gosens is classified as a T11 athlete. Gosens competed at the

1996 Atlanta 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 ...

in goalball. At the

2000 Sydney 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 ...

, he competed with guides Bill Hunter and Ed Salmon in three running events – sixth in Men's 5000 m T11, sixth in the Men's 10000 m T11 and eight in the Men's Marathon T11. At the 2002 IPC Athletics World Championships, Lille, France, he finished fourth in the Men's 1500 m T11 and sixth in the Men's 5000 m T11. At the

2006 IPC Athletics World Championships The 2006 IPC Athletics World Championships was held in Assen, Netherlands from 2–9 September 2006. It was the fourth edition of the international athletics competition for athletes with a disability organised by the International Paralympic Co ...

, Assen, Netherlands, he finished fifth in the Men's 1500 m T11. At the

2008 Beijing 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 ...

with guide Bruce Jones, he finished sixth in the Men's 1500 m T11. At the

2011 IPC Athletics World Championships The 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships was held in Christchurch, New Zealand from January 21 to 30, 2011. Athletes with a disability competed, and the Championships was a qualifying event for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Ove1000 athlet ...

, Christchurch, New Zealand, he finished fourth in his heat of the Men's 1500 m T11 and was ranked fourth. He was disqualified in his heat of the Men's 5000 m T11. In 2016, Gosens took up triathlon as a result of using swimming as rehabilitation for an injured knee. He is classified as a B1 paratriathlete. He has the goal of competing in paratriathlon at the

2020 Tokyo Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralympic ...

. In 2019, Gosens was caught up in a doping scandal after his guide Stephen Thompson tested positive to EPO at the 2018 ITU World Championships,

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nati ...

. Gosens competed with Thompson two days after Thompson won the silver medal at the World Championships 35 to 39 age group race. Gosens was disqualified due to Thompson's EPO test because he was his guide. At the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

in Birmingham, England with guide Hayden Armstrong, finished 6th in the Men's PTVI.

Other activities

In 2005, his attempt to conquer Mount Everest ended when he fell down a crevasse his guide forgot to tell him about. He had reached the third camp of Mount Everest, which stands at high. He has co-piloted an ultra-light motor glider around Queensland three times. Gosens has run the 2,000 kilometres from Cairns to Brisbane five times to raise money for charity. In 2009, he became the first contestant with a visual impairment to compete on the Australian television program ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

'', competing during the ninth season. His partner was

Jessica Raffa Jessica Raffa (born circa 1984) is an Australian ballroom dancer known for appearing on Australia's ''Dancing with the Stars''. She won Series 13 of the televised dance competition with celebrity partner Cosentino. Before competing on Dancing wi ...

and they were the eighth partnership eliminated. His participation raised funds for Vision Australia. Gosens has raised over A$2 million worth in services and funds for the 120 000 blind people in Australia.

Recognition

* 1995 – Young Queenslander of the Year * 2000 – Ansvar Athlete of the Year * 2001 –

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...

for distinguished service to sport particularly through the Paralympics * 2012 – Medal of the Order of Australia for service to people who are blind or vision impaired, and to sport * 2012 – Fervent Global Love of Lives medal from the Chou Ta-Kuan Cultural and Educational Foundation * 2018 – International Day of People with Disability Patron

References

External links