Michael Johnson (born 15 October 1973) is a New Zealand

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 ...

shooter Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, Bow and arrow, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or Blowgun, blowpipe). Even the acts of launching Flamethrower, flame, artillery, Dart (missile), darts, ha ...

who won a gold medal 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 ...

Career

Johnson started target shooting in 2002 and his first international competition was the 2002 Oceania championships, competing against other SH2 shooters, where he finished fourth. At the

in the SH2 Standing Air event, Johnson shot a perfect 600 out of 600 points in the preliminaries and then equalled the world record for a gold medal in the finals with 704.3. Johnson later became the first New Zealand world champion, when in July 2006 he won the gold medal in the SH2 Prone Air event at the IPC World Championships in Switzerland, shooting 600 out of 600 points In 2007, Johnson attended the Jikji Cup in South Korea, competing in and winning four events: the SH2 Standing, Prone, Falling Targets and 50m Small-bore. He was awarded the MVP award and the Jikji Cup. In 2008, Johnson competed in The Hessian Trophy; after shooting 600 out of 600 along with four other shooters, he shot a final score of 105.8 to win. Later that year, Johnson represented his country in 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 ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Johnson secured a bronze medal in the Mixed R4-10 m air rifle standing SH2 with a score of 701.2 after a shoot-off with

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n shooter Ho-Gyoung You. 2009 started well with Johnson building towards London 2012 competing again at the Jikji Cup (now called The Open Asian Shooting Championships) in South Korea. Johnson won three medals: gold in the R9 50m event; silver in the R4 10m Air rifle standing; and bronze in the R5 10m Air rifle prone. At the 2010 world championships in Zagreb, Croatia, Johnson won the bronze medal in the air rifle standing event after shooting a perfect 600 / 600 points. He went on to win the gold medal in the R9 50m prone .22 event, setting a new world record with 593 points. At the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Suhl Suhl () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located SW of Erfurt, NE of Würzburg and N of Nuremberg. With its 37,000 inhabitants, it is the smallest of the six urban districts within Thuringia. Together with its northern neighbour-town Zella- ...

, Germany, Johnson won the bronze medal in the R5 mixed 10m air rifle prone. In 2018, Johnson won the silver medal in the R4 mixed 10m air rifle standing at the World Championships in

Cheongju Cheongju () is the capital and largest List of cities in South Korea, city of North Chungcheong Province in South Korea. History Cheongju has been an important provincial town since ancient times. In the Cheongju Mountains, specifically in the ...

, South Korea.

Honours

In the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours, Johnson 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 on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to Paralympic sport.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Michael 1973 births Living people New Zealand male sport shooters Paralympic shooters for New Zealand Paralympic gold medalists for New Zealand Paralympic bronze medalists for New Zealand Paralympic medalists in shooting Shooters at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Shooters at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Shooters at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Shooters at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit