Sir Philip Lee Craven (born 4 July 1950) is an English sports administrator, former

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 ...

wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people with varying physical disabilities that disqualify them from playing a non-disabled sport. These include spina bifida, birth defects, cerebral palsy, paralysis due to accident, amputations (of ...

player, swimmer and track and field athlete. Between 2001 and 2017 he was the second president of 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 ...

(IPC).

Early life and education

Craven was born on 4 July 1951 in

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He was educated at Bolton School Boys' Division, where he was a keen swimmer, cricketer and tennis player. In 1966, at the age of 16, he fell during a

rock-climbing Rock climbing is a sport in which participants Climbing, climb up, across, or down natural Rock (geology), rock formations. The goal is to reach the Summit (topography), summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined Climbing ro ...

expedition at Wilton Quarries, Bolton. The accident left him without the use of his legs. He studied

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

, and graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

(BA) degree in 1972.

Athlete

Craven represented Great Britain in

at five editions of the Paralympic Games, from 1972 to 1988. He also competed in

track and field athletics Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

and swimming at the 1972 Games. He won gold at the

Wheelchair Basketball World Championship The IWBF World Wheelchair Basketball Championship is an international wheelchair basketball competition contested by the men's and the women's national teams of the members of the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation ( IWBF), the sport' ...

s in 1973, and bronze in 1975, as well as two gold medals (1971, 1974) and a silver (1993) at the European Championships. He also won gold at the European Champions Cup in 1994, and gold at the 1970 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games.Biography

Results at the Paralympic Games

Sports administrator

In 1980, alongside Horst Strohkendl and Stan Labanowich, Craven played a vital role in the development of a new classification system for wheelchair basketball athletes. Wheelchair basketball rejected its medically based classification system consisting of 3 classes, a system that was founded upon principles that forced athletes to depend on medical examinations. This progress led to a new 4-class functional system, which was democratically voted in 1982. Due to this, wheelchair basketball was increasingly associated with sport as opposed to medicine and rehabilitation, although both still play an important secondary role. In 1988, Craven was elected Chairman of the Wheelchair Basketball Section of the

International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation The International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) is an international sports organisation that governs sports for athletes with physical impairments. IWAS is a registered charity with its headquarters located at Aylesbury Colle ...

(ISMGF), the first athlete to lead the sport worldwide. Craven's striving for self-determination and self-government pave the way for the establishment of wheelchair basketball as an independent federation, when it gave up its previous identification as a basketball section of the ISMGF to become the independent, self-governing

International Wheelchair Basketball Federation The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is the international governing body for the sport of wheelchair basketball. IWBF is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as the sole competent authority in wheelchair ...

(IWBF) in 1993. At the First IWBF Official World Congress 1994 in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Philip Craven was elected the first President of IWBF, holding the office until 1998. A productive and more formalised working relationship with

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

, the worldwide governing body for the sport of basketball, was arranged under Craven's administration, to further legitimise wheelchair basketball itself.

Notable achievements as sports administrator

* Chairman,

Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association British Wheelchair Basketball (BWB), formerly named the Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association, is a non-profit organisation and the governing body for wheelchair basketball in Great Britain. The organisation represents Great Britain in ...

(GBWBA) (1977–1980, 1984–1987, 1989–1994) * Chairman, Classification Committee, ISMWSF Basketball Section (1984–1988) * Chief Executive Officer,

(IWBF) (1994–1998) * Performance Director, GBWBA Men's Wheelchair Basketball Team (1998–2002) * President, International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) (1998–2002) * President,

(IPC) (2001-2017) * Foundation board member,

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key ...

(WADA) (since 2002) * Board member, Olympic Truce Foundation (since 2002) * Member, IOC Commission for Culture and Olympic Education (since 2005) * Member, IOC

2008 Beijing The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Co-ordination Commission (since 2002) * Member, IOC Sport & Environment Commission (2002–2005) * Member,

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

(IOC) (since 2003) * Member, Executive Board,

British Olympic Association The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It is responsible for organising and overseeing the participation of athletes from the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team, at both ...

(since 2003) * Administration Council Member,

International Committee for Fair Play The International Fair Play Committee (french: Comité International pour le Fair Play), abbreviated as the CIFP, is a not for profit international non-governmental organisation which serves to foster sportsmanship in international competition. It ...

(since 2003) * Board member,

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (2005–12) * Member, IOC Congress 2009 Commission (2006–09)

President of the International Paralympic Committee

Craven was elected as the second President of the International Paralympic Committee in 2001. He oversaw 8 Paralympic games with his first being Salt Lake City in 2002 and his last being in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Sir Philip became the first President to have the Paralympics games hosted in his home country, with the UK in 2012. On 7 August 2016, Sir Philip announced that the International Paralympic Committee would ban Russia from participating in the 2016 Paralympic Games for allegedly violating international doping rules. This followed WADA's June 2016 report with accusations of state-sponsored doping in Russia. Sir Philip put the blame for the ban on Russia's government, stating that Russia has "catastrophically failed its para athletes," adding, "their medals-over-morals mentality disgusts me." Russia's appeal to the CAS against the ban was rejected, a decision that prompted

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

's public accusations against the international bodies responsible for imposing the ban.

Other activities

Craven served as Company Secretary at the

British Coal Corporation British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

from 1986 up to 1991. He is an Ambassador for

Peace and Sport Peace and Sport, also known as "L’Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport" is a neutral and independent organization based in the Principality of Monaco and under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco. Peace and Sport work in areas acros ...

, a

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

-based international organisation, committed to serving peace in the world through sport. In the 1991 New Years Honours List he was made a Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for services to wheelchair basketball. And then in June 2005 in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours List Craven was Knighted by

the Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

this time for services to Paralympic Sport. In 2017, Sir Philip was awarded the

Paralympic Order The Paralympic symbols are the icons, flags, and symbols used by the International Paralympic Committee to promote the Paralympic Games. Motto The Paralympic motto is "Spirit in Motion". The motto was introduced in 2004 at the Paralympic Games in ...

. In June 2018, Sir Philip was appointed to the Board of Directors of the

Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

References

External links

IPC President`s Blog

Sir Philip CRAVEN, MBE
official website of the Olympic Movement
International Paralympic Committee official website

IWBF official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Craven, Philip 1950 births Living people International Paralympic Committee members British men's basketball players English male swimmers Paralympic wheelchair basketball players of Great Britain Paralympic swimmers of Great Britain Paralympic athletes of Great Britain Sportspeople from Bolton People educated at Bolton School Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1972 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 1972 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 1976 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 1980 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair category Paralympic competitors Alumni of the Victoria University of Manchester Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University International Olympic Committee members Knights Bachelor Members of the Order of the British Empire Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany People in sports awarded knighthoods Recipients of the Paralympic Order Presidents of the International Paralympic Committee People with paraplegia British male breaststroke swimmers British men's wheelchair basketball players