Kevin Wayne Bawden AM (born 1946) is an Australian Paralympics competitor in six sports and a leading disability sports administrator in Australia.
Personal
Bawden was born in 1946 and lives in Adelaide, South Australia. He contracted polio at the age of four and at the age of 18 became involved in sport. He was employed with the Australian Government in several management roles for thirty five years until in 2001. From 2001 to 2006, he was the chief executive officer of a not-for-profit organisation in Adelaide.
Sports career
Bawden participated in four
Summer Paralympics
The Summer Paralympics also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, are an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebral ...
, three as an athlete and one as an official and coach. At the 1968 Tel Aviv Games, he participated in archery, dartchery, lawn bowls, table tennis, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair fencing. At these Games, South Australian wheelchair athletes represented Australia for the first time. He participated in shooting, table tennis and wheelchair basketball at the 1976 Toronto Games. At the 1984 Stoke Mandeville Games, he participated in shooting. He was a wheelchair sports official and assistant basketball coach at the
1988 Seoul Games
The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...
. Bawden won a gold medal in the Smallbore Rifle at the
1974 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games
The fourth Commonwealth Paraplegic Games were held in Dunedin, New Zealand from 13 to 19 January 1974. The Games were opened by Sir Denis Blundell, Governor-General of New Zealand.
Participating nations
The competing countries and competitors ...
FESPIC Games
The FESPIC Games or the Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled, was a multi-sport event in Asia and the South Pacific region which is considered to be a precursor to the Asian Para Games, as two of its edition games in 1999 (7th) and ...
.
He represented South Australia at twelve National Championships for wheelchair athletes.
Sports administration
At age 19, Bawden established Wheelchair Sports Association of South Australia. He was President of the Association for 28 years. He was Chairman of the inaugural National Junior Disability Games. At these Games, the Kevin Bawden Shield recognised his enormous contribution to junior disability sport. He was awarded Member of the Order of Australia for his contribution to disability sport. Australia's greatest Paralympic shooter,
Libby Kosmala
Elizabeth "Libby" Dudley Kosmala (née Richards), OAM (born 8 July 1942) is an Australian shooter with paraplegia. She represented Australia at twelve Paralympics from 1972 to 2016, and won thirteen medals, nine of them gold.
Personal
Kosma ...
states that Bawden played a role in her initial involvement in shooting.
Recognition
* 1985 – The Lord's Taverners Award – recognition of individuals who make a significant contribution to junior wheelchair sport in Australia
* 1986 –
Sir Ludwig Guttmann Award
Sir Ludwig Guttmann (3 July 1899 – 18 March 1980) was a German-British neurologist who established the Stoke Mandeville Games, the sporting event for people with disabilities (PWD) that evolved in England into the Paralympic Games. A Jewish ...
– recognition of individuals who make significant contribution to wheelchair sport in Australia.
*1995 – Order of Australia (AM) – in recognition of service to people with physical disabilities, particularly as President of the Wheelchair Sports Association of SA
*2000 – Australian Sports Medal
* Two awards are named in honour of Bawden – ''Disability Recreation & Sports SA (formerly Wheelchair Sports SA) Kevin Bawden AM Encouragement Award'' and ''Kevin Bawden Shield'' awarded to the State with the highest average points per athlete the National Junior Games for the Disabled.