José Manuel González Santamaría (born 19 September 1970) is a

paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

competing mainly in category T36 track events.

Personal

González was born in

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality by population in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coa ...

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

, Spain, on 19 September 1970 and lived in Tremañes, Asturias in 2012 The 2012 Asturias Day celebrations were held at the Asturian Parliament, and he was a participant in the awarding of the Medals of Asturias component, receiving a silver one for his Paralympic sportsmanship.

Athletics

González is a T36 classified competitor. In March 2012, he medalled at the Spanish national disability championships.

Paralympics

González has competed in a total of six Summer Paralympics, first competing in the 1992 Games in Barcelona where he won bronze in the 200m and 400m C8 sprints and silver in the C5-C8 100m relay. In Atlanta in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

he again competed in the relay and 200m but his only medal was a second bronze in the 400m. This would prove to be his last medal as he failed to medal in the 400m or either relay in the

2000 Summer Paralympics The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was the last time that the Summer Paralympics were organized by two different Organ ...

, at the

2004 Summer Paralympics The 2004 Summer Paralympics (), the 12th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Athens, Greece, from 17 to 28 September ...

he competed in the 400m, 800m and 4 × 400 m relay and at 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 ...

he competed in the 800m. In May 2012, González was on the shortlist of Spanish sportspeople from

likely to compete at the London Paralympics. Competing at the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Sum ...

, he finished fifth in the 800 meters with a time of 2:15.99. He was one of four competitors from Asturias to compete at the Games.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Jose Manuel Paralympic athletes for Spain Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Paralympic silver medalists for Spain Paralympic bronze medalists for Spain Living people 1970 births Medalists at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Spanish male sprinters Medalists at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) 20th-century Spanish sportsmen