Evan George O'Hanlon, (born 4 May 1988) is an Australian Paralympic athlete, who competes mainly in category T38 sprint events. He has won five gold medals at two Paralympic Games – 2008 Beijing and 2012 London. He also represented Australia at the

2016 Rio 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 , su ...

and

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 ...

, winning a silver medal and a bronze medal respectively. In winning the bronze medal in the Men's 100m T38 at the

2019 World Para Athletics Championships The 2019 World Para Athletics Championships was a Paralympic track and field event organised by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. It was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from 7 to 15 November 20 ...

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

, O'Hanlon became Australia's most successful male athlete with a disability. His bronze medal took him to 12 medals in five world championships – one more than four-time Paralympian

Neil Fuller Neil Robert Fuller, OAM (born 2 August 1969 in Shoreham by Sea, Sussex) is an Australian athlete, Paralympic competitor, and amputee. During his youth, Neil was an ambitious soccer player, gaining a position playing at state level for So ...

Personal

O'Hanlon was born on 4 May 1988 in Sydney, New South Wales. He is tall and weighs . He has

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 sens ...

due to a prenatal stroke. He attended St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill. He has five sisters, one of whom, Elsa, rowed for Australia's national team and won the World University lightweight sculling Championship in

Trakai Trakai (; see names section for alternative and historic names) is a historic town and lake resort in Lithuania. It lies west of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Because of its proximity to Vilnius, Trakai is a popular tourist destination. ...

, Lithuania in 2006. His father, Terry O'Hanlon, is a former Australian representative rowing coxswain, a six time Australian champion who represented twice at

World Rowing Championships The World Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non-Olympic years is the highlight of th ...

. His mother Jane, also represented Australia as a member of a national rowing squad. O'Hanlon studied landscape architecture at the

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is within walking distance of Westfield Belconnen, and from Canberra's Civic Centre. U ...

. He is married to Zuzana Schindlerová, a Czech Republic race walker. After the Rio Paralympics, he moved to Sydney to work part-time in the family's architecture business.

Competitive athletics

O'Hanlon mainly competes in category T38 sprint events. Before the start of his last year of high school, he competed only against able bodied athletes. In 2005, New South Wales Paralympic Talent Search Co-ordinator Amy Winters, herself a former Paralympian, recruited him to participate in Paralympic sport. That year, he represented Australia for the first time. In December, he moved to Canberra and started training full-time with Irina Dvoskina at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) from 2005 to 2016. Aged 19, his records made him the fastest male cerebral palsy competitor in the world. During his career, he has had to deal with painful shin splits. O'Hanlon competed in the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was f ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China. There he won three gold medals in the men's 100 metres – T38, men's 200 m – T38 and men's 4 x 100 metre relay – T35–38 events, 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 ...

. He won all of these events in World Record times, in the T38 100 m event with a time of 10.96 and in T38 200 m event with a time of 21.98. His time of 10.96 was the first time a male cerebral palsy athlete had a sub 11 second record time. Personal best times outside the Paralympics include a time of 51.08 in the T38 400 m event, a record O'Hanlon set in Brisbane, and a distance of in the T38 long jump event that he set in Canberra. In 2005, O'Hanlon competed at the German Nationals and European Championships in the 100 m and 200 m events at his first overseas competition. At the IPC Athletics World Championships in 2006, he competed in the T38 100 m, but did not finish; finished third in the T38 200 m event; and won two gold medals in the 4x100 m relay and 4x400 m relay events. At the Australian Championships, he finished first in the T38 100 m and T38 200 m events in 2006, 2007 and 2008. His 2006 title was his first national one, when he won the T38 100 m event. AustralianParalympianOfTheYear 268

At the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships, O'Hanlon won gold medals in the 100 m and 200 events, a silver medal in the 400 m event, and a bronze in the 4x100 m relay event. He finished fourth in the men's long jump event. His two gold medals at the event counted for half the total men's Australian gold medal count. In 2009 and 2010, O'Hanlon took time off from Paralympic athletics to compete in Australia's able-bodied domestic athletics season. He has a personal goal of being able to beat able-bodied athletes. One of his early goals was to beat the times of fellow Paralympian athlete Tim Sullivan. He accomplished this, and was on a sprint team with Sullivan that won a Paralympic gold medal in the 4x100 m event in Beijing. As of 2011, O'Hanlon is ranked first in the world. In 2011, he was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder training and based in Canberra. At the 2012 London Games, O'Hanlon repeated his Beijing success in winning the Men's 100 m and 200 m T38 events. He was the Australian flag bearer at the closing ceremony of the London games. Competing at the

2013 IPC Athletics World Championships The 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships was the biggest track and field competition for athletes with a disability since the 2012 Summer Paralympics. It was held in Lyon, France, and lasted from 20 to 28 July. Around 1,100 athletes competed, f ...

in Lyon, France, O'Hanlon won gold medals in the Men's 100 m, 200 m and 400 m T38 events. O'Hanlon competed at the Championships just weeks after being hospitalised with

viral meningitis Viral meningitis, also known as aseptic meningitis, is a type of meningitis due to a viral infection. It results in inflammation of the meninges (the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord). Symptoms commonly include headache, fever, sen ...

. O'Hanlon was forced to withdraw from the

2015 IPC Athletics World Championships The 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships were a Paralympic track and field meet organized by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. The event was the 7th edition of what is now known as the World Para ...

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the count ...

due to a stress fracture in his back. At the

, O'Hanlon won the silver medal in the Men's 100 m T38 in a time of 10.98. He announced his retirement immediately after the event due to personal reasons. O'Hanlon moved to Sydney in 2016 and returned to athletics after taking up a part-time position in his family's architecture business. At the

2017 World Para Athletics Championships The 2017 World Para Athletics Championships were a Paralympic track and field meet organized by World Para Athletics, a subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. It was held at London Stadium in London from 14 to 23 July 2017. It wa ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, he won the Men's 100m T38 in a time of 11.07s (−1.6). In winning gold, O'Hanlon joined

in becoming Australia's leading medallist at the World Para-Athletics Championships with 11 medals. In winning the bronze medal in the Men's 100m T38 at the

, O'Hanlon became Australia's most successful male athlete with a disability. His bronze medal took him to 12 medals in five world championships – one more than four-time Paralympian

. At the

, O'Hanlon qualified for the final by coming second in his heat of the 100m T38. He went on to win the bronze medal. O'Hanlon repeated his 2018 Commonwealth Games success by winning the 100 m T37/38 at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

in a Games Record.

Other sports

O'Hanlon has participated in

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

. His involvement as a player ended because of repeated injuries. He has also competed in rowing as a school athlete. In November 2018 O'Hanlon commenced training as a bobsled pilot at Lillehammer, Norway. Following racing in Europe in 2019 and 2020 O'Hanlon suffered a serious foot injury during bobsled training in Germany. In February 2021 Evan became a dual-sport national representative for Australia as the pilot of the 2 man bobsled at the 2021 Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Championships held in Altenberg, Germany.

Recognition

O'Hanlon was AIS Junior Athlete of the Year in 2008, and was also named Athletics Australia's 2008 Athlete of the Year – Male AWD. '' Cleo magazine'' named him as a finalist in its 2008 Bachelor of the Year contest. In 2011, he was nominated for

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...

's Sport Performer Award in the Performer with a Disability category. In 2011, he received a Sport Achievement Award from the Australian Institute of Sport. O'Hanlon was a finalist for the 2012 Australian Paralympian of the Year. In November 2013, he was named

Athletics Australia Athletics Australia is the national sporting organisation (NSO) recognised by Sport Australia for the sport of athletics in Australia. First founded in 1897, the organisation is responsible for administering a sport with over 16,000 registered ...

Male Para-Athlete of the Year. In 2014, he was inducted into the Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre Path of Champions. Inaugural inductee to

Sport Walk of Fame in 2022.

References

External links

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Evan O'Hanlon
at

Evan O'Hanlon
at Athletics Australia Historical Results {{DEFAULTSORT:OHanlon, Evan Paralympic athletes of Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia World record holders in Paralympic athletics Cerebral Palsy category Paralympic competitors Track and field athletes with cerebral palsy Australian Institute of Sport Paralympic track and field athletes Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia 1988 births Living people Australian male sprinters Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) 20th-century Australian people 21st-century Australian people University of Canberra alumni