- Date of Birth:
- 25 April 1981 (28)
- Home Town:
- Cardiff
- Current Address:
- Cardiff
When John was 19 years old, he was involved in a serious motorcycle accident while on a gap-year trip to Ko Samui, Thailand, after his A-levels. He was flown to a hospital in Bangkok, but as he had damaged his lower right leg so severely, it had to be amputated above the knee. Upon returning to the UK, John endured a rigorous rehabilitation process at home, during which time he took up mountain biking and climbing and worked as a fitness instructor at his local leisure centre.
John took up a place at Swansea University to pursue a BSc. in Sport and Exercise Science and as soon as he had his prosthesis fitted in the summer of 2003 he started running. He joined a local running club, the Swansea Harriers Athletic Club, began training more seriously and had a new carbon-fibre running prosthesis fitted, the “blade”. In the summer of 2004 John graduated from University and took part in his first race at the Disability Sports Events (DSE) Championships in the UK.
In early 2005 former Welsh international athlete Darrell Maynard took over as his coach and he began training with an able-bodied squad. He was selected to represent Great Britain at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) European Championships where he took the Bronze medal in the 200 metres and came 4th in the 100-metre race. John was subsequently placed on a funding programme, enabling him to become a full-time athlete.
In September 2006 at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Championships John won Silver in the 100 metres and a Bronze in the 200 metres. The following year, on 13 May 2007, John struck Gold and achieved a competition record time of 26.84 seconds in the 200 metres in his début at the Visa Paralympic World Cup in Manchester. He also gained a Silver in the 100 metres.
After less than 4 years of competitive racing John made his Paralympic début for Great Britain in the 100 metres (T42) at the 2008 Summer Paralympic Games in Beijing. He took the Bronze medal in 13.08 seconds behind Canada’s Earle Connor (12.32 seconds) and Germany’s Heinrich Popow (12.98 seconds), an incredible achievement .
Following the Games, John returned to the UK from Beijing overland via the Trans-Siberian Railway. He travelled from China to Mongolia and Russia, across Russia to the Ukraine, then to Hungary, Croatia and the Dalmatian coast. From there he took a ferry to Italy to meet his girlfriend in Rome. They then travelled by train across Italy and Austria, eventually returning to the UK around the middle of November 2008.
John is now pursuing his dream of becoming a doctor by studying medicine at Cardiff University, at the same time he has his eye on more Paralympic medals, but this time in the velodrome on a bike at the London Olympic Games in 2012!
Achievements:
100m (sport class T42)
2008 Bronze – Paralympics Games, Beijing, China
2007 Gold – IWAS World Wheelchair and Amputee Games, China
2007 Silver - Bayer International, Leverkusen, Germany
2007 Silver - Paralympic World Cup, Manchester, England
2007 Bronze - ÅF Golden League, Paris, France
2006 Gold - Paralympic Challenge, Duderstadt, Germany
2006 Silver - IPC World Championships, Assen, Netherlands
200m (sport class T42)
2007 Gold - IWAS World Wheelchair and Amputee Games, China
2007 Gold - World Athletics Championships for the Disabled, Netherlands
2007 Gold - Paralympic World Cup, Manchester, England
2006 Bronze - IPC World Championships, Assen, Netherlands
2005 Bronze - IPC Open European Championships, Espoo, Finland
