Stephen McGuire (born 18 August 1984) is a Scottish

Boccia Boccia ( ) is a precision ball sport, similar to bocce, and related to bowls and pétanque. The name "boccia" is derived from the Latin word for "boss" – '. The sport is contested at local, national and international levels, by athletes ...

player.

Personal life

McGuire was born on 18 August 1984, in

Bellshill Bellshill (pronounced "Bells hill") is a town in North Lanarkshire in Scotland, southeast of Glasgow city centre and west of Edinburgh. Other nearby localities are Motherwell to the south, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton to the south ...

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He was born with

muscular dystrophy Muscular dystrophies (MD) are a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of rare neuromuscular diseases that cause progressive weakness and breakdown of skeletal muscles over time. The disorders differ as to which muscles are primarily affe ...

, a degenerative condition that means he requires the use of a wheelchair. McGuire is known to work in the community, helping with disabled young people and is an ambassador for the

Muscular Dystrophy Campaign Muscular Dystrophy UK is a UK charity focusing on muscular dystrophy and related conditions. They seek to cure or find treatments for muscular dystrophy and other muscle-wasting conditions, and to improve the lives of those affected. The ch ...

. He has recently attended his third Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

Boccia

He competes in the BC4 classification. In pairs events, he was most successful with his brother

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

who also has muscular dystrophy. McGuire is the most successful British BC4 Boccia athlete; a ten-time Scottish Champion, thirteen-time British Champion, four-time European Champion, and former World Champion. In his early career and competing with his elder brother Peter he won the gold medal in the BC4 pairs event at the 2009 European Championships held in

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, Portugal. In 2010, they won the silver medal at the World Championships in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Portugal. Other major championship medals include European Silver from Hamar, Norway 2011 as well as retaining European Gold in the Pairs event in 2013, multiple World Open medals in Povoa Portugal, Montreal Canada and reaching the pinnacle of his career by securing the World Championship Individual Gold medal in Beijing 2016. In 2012 both Stephen and Peter were selected as part of the Boccia squad for

Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

. In the lead up to the games they participated in a documentary detailing their journey through life and into sport.Boccia Brothers
/ref>, marking his first games. Subsequently competing in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mcguire, Stephen 1984 births Living people Paralympic boccia players for Great Britain Boccia players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Boccia players at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Boccia players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics