141100 - Wheelchair basketball Paula Coghlan shoots - 3b - 2000 Sydney match photo

Paula Coghlan (born 14 October 1965) is an Australian wheelchair basketball player. She was born in the Melbourne suburb of Box Hill in Victoria. Coghlan was part of the

Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team The Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team is the women's wheelchair basketball side that represents Australia in international competitions. The team is known as the Gliders. The team hasn't won a gold medal for Australia since i ...

(Gliders) at four Paralympics: the 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, 2000 Sydney, and

2004 Athens The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

games. She was a member of the Gliders team that won silver medals in 2000 and 2004. Coghlan competed as Paula Lohman at the 1992 Games and at the 1996 Games she competed as Paula Ewen. She has two sons, James and Jacob. She was the domestic partner of wheelchair basketballer

Sandy Blythe Robert Alexander "Sandy" Blythe, OAM (24 February 1962 – 18 November 2005) was an Australian wheelchair basketball player. He became a paraplegic due to a car accident in 1981, and went on to participate in the Australia men's national whe ...

for eight years until his suicide in 2005. After his death, she took up a directorship for the Blythe-Sanderson Group. In 1987, Coghlan was a passenger in a car accident where the driver dozed off behind the wheel. The car was flipped onto its roof, and her foot got trapped outside the car. After an attempt to try and rebuild most of her leg through plastic surgery, Coghlan eventually made the decision to amputate below her knee. A wheelchair rugby player named John Kinnery, who was a quadriplegic, encouraged Coghlan to play wheelchair basketball even though she did not use a wheelchair. Coghlan did not want to participate in a sport that required her to get into a wheelchair. But after attending a wheelchair basketball game and jumping in to have a go, she fell in love with it. Coghlan said '''I just fell in love with it and never looked back. I never stopped playing from that... I was hooked'''. The competitive nature of the sport lured Coghlan into playing, as well as being on a level playing field again. At the time she started playing wheelchair basketball, no women's team existed in Victoria. Coghlan had begun playing with the men, with players such as

Kevin Coombs Kevin Richard Coombs, Order of Australia, OAM Paralympic_symbols#Postnominal, PLY (born 30 May 1941) is an Australian wheelchair basketballer and athlete who competed at 5 Paralympics including the first Paralympic Games in 1960. He was the firs ...

and

. Coghlan approached Wheelchair Sports Victoria to create a team for the Women's National League. To qualify for the 1992 Barcelona Games, the Australian team had to travel to Stoke Mandeville in England to qualify. The qualifying tournament required the team to beat France and Japan. The national team managed to win the tournament, and they qualified for the Games. At the Barcelona Games, the Gliders finished fourth. One particular sporting highlight for Coghlan was wearing the green and gold at the 1992 Barcelona Games because it was the first time Australia would be represented in women's wheelchair basketball. Coghlan left the Australian team after the 1992 Games to have her son, James. In 1995, the coach for the Gliders, Peter Corr, asked her to come back and play in the 1996 Games in Atlanta. At the Atlanta Games the Gliders placed fourth. At the 1997 World Championships, the Gliders won a bronze medal. The Sydney 2000 Games was a major turning point for paralympic sport. There was a stronger connection between the paralympic athletes and the able-bodied athletes, and Coghlan's public profile had increased. The Gliders had been undefeated and had reached the gold medal play off against Canada, but they were defeated. Coghlan was the Gliders team captain at the 2004 Games. She was also given the female captain role for the whole Paralympic team.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coghlan, Paula 1965 births Living people Wheelchair category Paralympic competitors Paralympic wheelchair basketball players for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Wheelchair basketball players at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Sportswomen from Victoria (state) Basketball players from Melbourne Australian amputees Paralympic medalists in wheelchair basketball People from Box Hill, Victoria