Justin Cain Eveson, OAM (born 10 June 1980) is an Australian swimmer and

wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people with varying physical disabilities that disqualify them from playing a non-disabled sport. These include spina bifida, birth defects, cerebral palsy, paralysis due to accident, amputations (of ...

player who has won Paralympic medals in both sports.

Personal

Eveson was born on 10 June 1980, and is from the Perth suburb of

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

. In 1993, when he was 12 years old, his right leg was amputated below the knee after a lawn aerating machine accident. Prior to his accident, he had played basketball. In 2010, he was the patron for the

Australian University Games The UniSport Nationals is a multi-sport event held annually between the 43 Australian universities and tertiary institutions. Overseen by UniSport, the peak governing body of university sport in Australia, the nationals is the flagship event on ...

. He works as a fitness instructor, and his personal hero is his father. He also serves as the Membership and Participation Officer for Wheelchair Sports Western Australia. Outside of competitive basketball and swimming, he plays golf.

Swimming

Eveson first started competing in disabled sport in 1995, doing swimming and wheelchair basketball. Around that time, he decided to focus on swimming. From 1996 to 1999, he was part of the Wheelchair Sports WA Association Junior Sports Star program as a swimmer. He competed in 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 ...

, where he won a 4 × 100 m freestyle relay silver and 4 × 100 m medley relay bronze medal.

Basketball

Eveson's player classification is 4.5 and he plays power forward. Eveson first started playing wheelchair basketball in 1995. His ability to play has been supported by the

Western Australian Institute of Sport The Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS) is an elite sports institute set up in 1983 by the Government of Western Australia to support athletes in Western Australia. Previously, if elite athletes from Western Australian needed to train or ...

Individual Athlete Support Program. In 2009, the basketball teams that Eveson played for won every tournament he was part of at a club and national team level.

National team

In 2002, Eveson made his first appearance on the

Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team The Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team is the men's wheelchair basketball side that represents Australia in international competitions. The team is known as the Rollers. Australia took the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Paralymp ...

Paralympics

Eveson was part of the silver medal-winning

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 ...

, and the gold medal-winning

at 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 ...

, for which he 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 ...

. He was the team's leading scorer. At the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

he was part of the Australian men's wheelchair team that won silver.

Other competitions

010912 - Justin Eveson - 3b - 2012 Summer Paralympics (02)

In 2006, Eveson was part of the squad that won a bronze medal at the World Championships. In 2008, he was part of the team that took silver at the Beijing Paralympic test event. That year, he was the captain of the gold winning Australian side at the Paralympic World Cup held in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England. In 2009, he was part of the Australian gold winning IWBF Asia-Oceania Championship side and the 2009 Rollers World Challenge team that won gold. At the tournament, he scored 25 points, had 5 assists and 13 rebounds. He was a member of the

that competed at the

2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship The 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship was held in Birmingham, Great Britain from 7 to 17 July 2010. Both the men's and women's tournaments were held. The Championships was a qualifying event for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. ...

that won a gold medal. He and fellow Australian teammate

Shaun Norris Shaun Daryl Norris, OAM (born 2 April 1985) is an Australian wheelchair basketball player. He was a member of the Rollers team that competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, his fifth Games. Personal Norris is from the Perth suburb of Banksia ...

were recognised for their performance at the tournament by being named as one of the World All-Star Five for the tournament. He was a member of the Rollers team that won the gold medal at the

2014 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship Separate men's and women's Wheelchair Basketball World Championship tournaments were held in 2014. The women's tournament was held at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Canada between 20 and 28 June 2014. It was the largest women' ...

Club basketball

Eveson has played professional wheelchair basketball in Australia, Italy, Spain and Turkey. In 2001, Eveson made his club basketball debut with the National Wheelchair Basketball League (NWBL)'s Perth Wheelcats. He has won three European Champions League Cups in a row. In 2007, he was playing club basketball in Australia for the Perth Wheelcats. His team won the league's Championship that year, and Evenson was named the MVP for Championship game. That year, the Wheelcats were also the World Club Champions. In 2008, he was playing club basketball in Turkey for

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

. That year, his team won the European Champions Cup. He was named Most Valuable Player of the Championship match and was named as part of the All-Star Five for the tournament. In 2010, he played for the Perth Wheelcats when it won the league's Championships. In 2011, he was playing for the Perth Wheelcats. In the first game of the season against the Wollongong Roller Hawks, he scored 35 points.

Recognition

Eveson won the Western Australian Wheelchair Sports Star-of-the-year award with

Brad Ness Bradley John Ness, OAM (born 24 November 1974) is an Australian wheelchair basketballer. He won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing and silver medals at 2004 Athens and 2012 London Paralympics. He was selected as the Australian flag bearer at t ...

in 2003. In 2008, he received the Sandy Blythe Medal given for the International Wheelchair Player of the Year. In 2009, Laureus World Athlete of the Year Awards named him as one of their finalists. In 2010, he was named one of

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...

ANZ Sports Star Nominees in the wheelchair basketball category.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eveson, Justin Paralympic wheelchair basketball players for Australia Male Paralympic swimmers for Australia Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia Amputee category Paralympic competitors Australian amputees Galatasaray S.K. (wheelchair basketball) players Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia 1980 births Living people Western Australian Institute of Sport alumni Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in wheelchair basketball Australian male medley swimmers 21st-century Australian people Swimmers from Perth, Western Australia Sportsmen from Western Australia