Liam Bevan Malone (born 23 December 1993) is a former New Zealand para-athlete, primarily competing in sprint events. He represented New Zealand at the

2016 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

in Rio de Janeiro, where he won gold medals in the men's 200 metres T44 and 400 metres T44, and the silver medal in the men's 100 metres T44.

Personal life

Malone was born in Nelson, the son of Murray Robert Malone and Trudi Scott. He grew up in the suburb of

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

and was educated at Nayland College. He is the grandson of Peter Malone, who served as the

mayor of Nelson The mayor of Nelson is the head of the municipal government of Nelson, New Zealand, and presides over the Nelson City Council. The mayor is directly elected using a single transferable vote electoral system. The current mayor is Nick Smith, wh ...

from 1980 to 1992. He is also the great-great-great-grandson of

Robert Trimble Robert Trimble (November 17, 1776 – August 25, 1828) was a lawyer and jurist who served as Justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, as United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Kentucky and as Ass ...

, a 19th-century member of the New Zealand Parliament, and the great-great-great-great-grandson of Abel Heywood, who served two separate terms as

mayor of Manchester This is a list of the Lord Mayors of the City of Manchester in the North West of England. Not to be confused with the Directly elected Greater Manchester Mayor. The Current and 124th Lord Mayor is Cllr Donna Ludford, Labour who has served Sin ...

in the 1860s and 1870s. Malone is also the great-great-great-nephew of Lieutenant Colonel

William George Malone Lieutenant Colonel William George Malone (24 January 1859 – 8 August 1915) was an officer in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force who served in the First World War. He commanded the Wellington Infantry Battalion during the Gallipoli Campa ...

, who commanded the Wellington Infantry Battalion at

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

. Malone was born with fibular hemimelia (congenital absence of the

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 is ...

bone) in both legs. As a result, his legs were amputated just above his ankles when he was 18 months old.

Career

As a double below-knee amputee, Malone is classified T43 for running events. His maximum permitted standing height on prosthetics is . Malone was officially selected to represent New Zealand at the

on 23 May 2016. At the Paralympics, he won the silver medal in the men's 100 metres T44, and the gold medals in the men's 200 metres T44 and men's 400 metres T44. His two gold medals were achieved in Paralympic record time, taking the records from disgraced South African sprinter

Oscar Pistorius Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius (; ; born 22 November 1986) is a South African convicted murderer and former professional sprinter. Both of his feet were amputated when he was 11 months old owing to a congenital defect; he was born missing the o ...

. Malone was selected as New Zealand's flag bearer for the

2016 Summer Paralympics closing ceremony The closing ceremony of the 2016 Summer Paralympics was held at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 18 September 2016. The ceremony's cultural portions were structured as a concert featuring a number of mainstream Brazilian singers ...

. He was appointed a Member of the

New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of New Zealand, Queen of New Zealand, "for those ...

in the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

, for his services to athletics. Malone announced his retirement from athletics in January 2018. Malone began working in Artificial Intelligence start up Soul Machines immediately after retirement, the company is led by Oscar Award winner Dr Mark Sagar. Malone is also a popular keynote speaker and is represented by Celebrity Speakers New Zealand

Personal bests

References

External links

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Meet Our Paralympians: Liam Malone
– Attitude Live video profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Malone, Liam 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Nelson, New Zealand New Zealand male sprinters Paralympic athletes for New Zealand Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for New Zealand Paralympic silver medalists for New Zealand People educated at Nayland College Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field)