Stephen Stanley Bate (born 24 August 1977) is a New Zealand–British

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 ...

cyclist who competes in tandem races as an athlete with a visual impairment. Since 2014, Bate has been piloted by

Adam Duggleby Adam Christopher John Duggleby (born 16 October 1984) is a British cyclist. He represented Great Britain at the 2016 Rio Paralympics as a sighted pilot for visually impaired cyclist Stephen Bate, whom he was paired with in January 2014. The p ...

. At the

2016 Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

, the pair won gold in the men's individual pursuit B and men's road time trial B, and bronze in the men's road race B. In 2018 Bate and

Duggleby Duggleby is a hamlet in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It was historically part of the East Riding of Yorkshire until 1974. It is north-east of York and south-west of Scarborough. Duggleby is part of the civil p ...

won the UCI World Para-cycling Tandem B Individual Pursuit and the UCI World Para-cycling Tandem B Individual Time Trial to become double World Champions. The pair are current World Tandem B Time Trial champions, after winning the title in 2021 at the UCI Paracycling World Championships in Cascais, Portugal.

Cycling career

Bate was introduced to the ideas of para-cycling by friend and Great Britain team member

Karen Darke Karen Darke, , FRSGS (born 25 June 1971) is a British paralympic cyclist, paratriathlete, adventurer and author. She competed at the 2016 Rio Paralympics winning Gold in the Women's road time trial, following her success in the 2012 London Para ...

; both of whom have conquered

El Capitan El Capitan ( es, El Capitán; "the Captain" or "the Chief") is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granit ...

in Yosemite National Park. Bate has climbed the rock face 3 times including a solo ascent of Zodiac, becoming the first visually impaired person to achieve this. In 2013 he was accepted onto British Cycling’s Paralympic Development Programme and, was teamed up with sight piloted

. In December 2014, after became the British road and time trial national champion, Bate was advanced from the development programme to the Paralympic Podium Programme, for athletes who British Cycling believe have medal potential at Paralympic level. The next year he made his World Championship debut, competing at the 2015 Championships in Apeldoorn. In 2015 Bate and Duggleby won their first World Cup medals together. At

Maniago Maniago ( fur, Manià) is a town and ''comune'' located in Friuli Venezia Giulia (north-eastern Italy), in Friuli Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical ...

in Italy they took silver in the road race and a bronze in the time trial; and followed this with a gold medal in the time trial at the

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...

World Cup in South Africa. In July 2016, Bate was named in the Great Britain team to compete at the

2016 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

in Rio. Bate was appointed

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) in the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to cycling. At the

2020 Tokyo Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralympic ...

, Duggleby and Bate won silver in the men's individual pursuit B.

Personal history

Bate was born (in 1977) and brought up in New Zealand and attended Mount Albert Grammar School, from 1991-1994, before moving to

Moray Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Between 1975 ...

in Scotland in adulthood. He has Retinitis Pigmentosa which has left him with a 10% field of vision.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bate, Stephen 1977 births Living people Scottish male cyclists Scottish track cyclists New Zealand male cyclists Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Members of the Order of the British Empire Sportspeople from Moray New Zealand emigrants to the United Kingdom Paralympic medalists in cycling Paralympic cyclists for Great Britain