Peter David Homann, OAM (born 16 February 1960) is a former Australian Paralympic cyclist. He has won seven medals at three Games from 1996 to 2004.

Personal

Homann was born with

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensa ...

on 16 February 1960 in the Victorian town of

Yallourn Yallourn, Victoria was a company town in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia built between the 1920s and 1950s to house employees of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, who operated the nearby Yallourn Power Station, Victoria, Yal ...

. When he was three, his father, a pharmacist, moved the family to the

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

n town of

Wewak Wewak is the capital of the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. It is on the northern coast of the island of New Guinea. It is the largest town between Madang and Jayapura. It is the see city (seat) of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak. Hi ...

, where he ran the local

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

. In a 2000 interview, Homann said of his childhood in the town: He moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

to finish high school and university, and later lived in the United Kingdom for four years, where he took up cycling recreationally. He continued cycling when he moved back to Australia, and was interested in the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics.

Career

Homann's first international competition was the 1994 European championships, where he won two gold medals. In 1995, he won the European championships and was a finalist for Paralympian of the Year. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, he won a gold medal in the Mixed 20k Bicycle CP Div 4 event, 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 ...

, and a silver medal in the Mixed 5,000 m Time Trial Bicycle CP Div 4 event. At the 1998 world championships, he broke two world records in the 3,000 m individual pursuit and kilometre time trial, and won the road race. At the 2000 Sydney Games, he won a gold medal in the Mixed Bicycle Road Race CP Div 4 event and a bronze medal in the Mixed Bicycle Time Trial CP Div 4 event. That year, he received an

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...

. At the

2004 Athens Games 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), ...

in the Men's Team Sprint LC1-4/CP 3/4 event, cycling team captain Christopher Scott relinquished his place in the team in the finals so that Homann could get a chance to win a gold medal at his last Paralympics; the Australian team won the event so he received the gold medal along with Scott and the rest of the team. In a 2008 interview, Scott said of this action: "I already had my gold medal. It's what you do in a team. Peter deserved his chance on the podium."Homann also won two silver medals in the Men's Road Race / Time Trial Bicycle CP Div 4 and Men's Individual Pursuit Bicycle CP Div 4 events at the 2004 Games. In 2008, he was inducted into the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; german: Internationales Paralympisches Komitee) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and fun ...

Paralympic Hall of Fame. He was an

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

scholarship holder in 1997 and 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Homann, Peter Paralympic cyclists of Australia Australian male cyclists Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Cyclists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia Paralympic medalists in cycling Cerebral Palsy category Paralympic competitors Cyclists with cerebral palsy Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Cyclists from Victoria (Australia) People from Yallourn Australian Institute of Sport Paralympic cyclists 1960 births Living people