Robert George Courtney (27 April 1959 – 28 January 2016) was a champion New Zealand

Paralympian 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 ...

Early life

Born on 27 April 1959, Courtney spent his childhood in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

and was educated at St Peter's College.''St Peter's College Magazine 1982'', p. 38.

Athletics career

Courtney represented New Zealand in the 1982 Paraplegic Olympics in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

in the 100 metres and 200 metres Wheelchair Sprints for which he won gold medals and set world records. He also represented New Zealand in the

1984 Summer Paralympics The 1984 International Games for the Disabled, canonically the 1984 Summer Paralympics were the seventh Paralympic Games to be held. There were two separate competitions: one in Stoke Mandeville, England, United Kingdom for wheelchair athletes ...

Stoke Mandeville Stoke Mandeville is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located three miles (4.9 km) from Aylesbury and 3.4 miles (5.5 km) from the market town of Wendover. Although a separate civil p ...

, England, where he won, and set a world record in, the men's 100 m 4. In the same games he also won a bronze medal in the Men's King of the Straight - 100 m 1A-6.

Death

Courtney died in Auckland on 28 January 2016. He had suffered from kidney problems for over 20 years.

References

External links

* * 1959 births 2016 deaths New Zealand male athletes Paralympic athletes for New Zealand Paralympic gold medalists for New Zealand Paralympic bronze medalists for New Zealand Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Athletes from Auckland People educated at St Peter's College, Auckland {{NewZealand-athletics-bio-stub