Brenden Hall

Brenden Hall

2012 Australian Paralympic Team portrait of Hall
Personal information
Full name Brenden Hall
Nickname(s) Junior
Nationality  Australia
Born (1993-05-27) 27 May 1993
Nambour, Queensland, Australia
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Freestyle
Classifications S9, SB8, SM9
Club Lawnton
Coach Harley Connolly

Brenden Hall OAM is an Australian Paralympic amputee swimmer who won two gold medals at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics where he won one gold, one silver and one bronze medal.[1]

Personal

Hall was born on 27 May 1993 in the Queensland town of Nambour.[2] At the age of six, he had his right leg amputated after complications from chicken pox.[2] The disease also resulted in the loss of 70% of his hearing.[2] Initially he was confined to a wheelchair but in the mid 2000s he was fitted with a prosthetic leg. Hall said "didn’t really care how I walked, just that I could walk".[3] Hall attended Petrie State School.[3] He lives in the suburb of Petrie and is studying exercise science at the University of Queensland.[4] He is an ambassador for the Aspiration for Kids programme.[2] and Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association’s Game Changers. .[5]

Career

Hall at the 2012 London Paralympics

Before his amputation, he was a member of a mini development squad and returned to swimming after his amputation had healed.[3] He made his international swimming debut at the 2007 Arafura Games.[6] He was the youngest male on the Australian swimming team at the 2008 Beijing Games.[6] He competed in the Men's 400 m Freestyle S9 and came 5th in the final. He broke the Paralympic record in his heat.[6] At the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships in Eindhoven he won gold medals in the Men's 400m Freestyle S9, Men's 5 km Open Water S1-S10, Men's 4 x 100 m Freestyle Relay 34 points (Heat) Men's 4 x 100 m Medley Relay 34 points (Heat).[2][7] In 2011, at the Queensland Swimming Championships he broke world records in the 800 m and 1500 m Freestyle events.[6]

At the 2012 London Games, he won two gold medals in the Men's 400 m Freestyle S9 and Men's 4 x 100 m Freestyle Relay 34 points and a bronze medal in the Men's 4 x 100 m Medley Relay 34 points.[8][9] He also participated in the S9 class of the Men's 100 m Backstroke, 100 m Butterfly S9, 100 m Freestyle and 50 m Freestyle events – as well as the 200 m Individual Medley SM9.[9]

As of February 2013, he holds S9 world records in the 400 m, 800 m and 1500 m freestyle events.[10] Competing at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, he won two gold medals in the Men's 400m Freestyle S9 and Men's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay (34 points).[11] He broke the world record in winning the Men's 400m Freestyle S9.[12]

At the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships, he won the gold medals in the Men's 100 m Backstroke S9 and Men's 400 m Freestyle S9 and bronze medals in the Men's 100 m Freestyle S9 and Men's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay 34 points.[13][14][15][16] He finished fifth in the Men's 50m Freestyle S9, fifth in the Men's 100m Butterfly S9 and sixth in the Men's 200m Individual Medley SM9.[17]

At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he won the gold medal in the Men's 400 m Freestyle S9, silver medal in the Men's 100 m Freestyle S9 and bronze medal in the Men's 100 m Backstroke S9. He also competed in the following events: Men's 100m Butterfly S9 finishing fourth, Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay (34 points) placing fourth, Men's 200m Individual Medley SM9 where he was disqualified and Men's 50m Freestyle S9 not progressing to the finals.[18]

In preparation for Rio, Hall states: “The fire’s there. I love being in the water. I’m just aiming to have a good Games and defend the 400m. My training is based around the 400m. That’s the one I want to do best in.”[19] After winning the gold medal at Rio, Hall says: “We’re very excited, very relieved, I think the party’s only begun tonight, but still got about five events to go, so hopefully we’ll figure again."[20]

In 2016, he is an Queensland Academy of Sport scholarship holder.[21]

Recognition

He was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2014 Australia Day Honours "for service to sport as a Gold Medallist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games."[22] In 2015, he won the Queensland Athlete with a Disability Award, the third time he had won this award.[23]

See also

References

  1. "Swimming Australia Paralympic Squad Announcement". Swimming Australia News. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Athlete Profile – Brenden Hall". International Paralympic Committee Website. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Lawrence, Ellisa (5 September 2016). "Paralympics 2016: We're the Superhumans - Queensland's champions". Courier Mail. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  4. "Brenden Hall". University of Queensland Sport Scholarship Holders. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  5. "Changing lives through sharing stories". Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association website. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Brenden Hall". Australian Paralympic Committee Website. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  7. "2010 IPC Swimming World Championships Results" (PDF). International Paralympic Committee Website. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  8. "Brenden Hall - Athlete Results". London 2012 Paralympic Games. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  9. 1 2 Results for Brenden Hall from the International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  10. IPC Swimming World Records - Long Course
  11. "Men's relay team back it up in Montreal". Swimming Australia News. 16 August 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  12. "Twenty-seven medals for the Australian swim team in Montreal". Swimming Australia News. 19 August 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  13. "Ellie's world record double in golden start for Dolphins in Glasgow". Swimming Australia News, 14 July 2015.
  14. "World record for 13-year-old Tiffany Thomas-Kane as Dolphins light up the pool in Glasgow 15 July". Swimming Australia News, 15 July 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  15. "Aussies unite for a nail biting bronze medal win in the men's relay". Swimming Australia News, 18 July 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  16. "Two world records for China, four more fall at Glasgow 2015". International Paralympic Committee8 July 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  17. "Brenden Hall results". Glasgow 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  18. "Swimming results". Rio Paralympics official website. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  19. Crockford, Nick. "Paralympian Brenden Hall lapping up the pressure of being world record holder at Rio Paralympic Games". Quest Community News. The Courier Mail. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  20. Mason, Jamie-Leigh. "Petrie's Brenden Hall wins gold in 400m freestyle S9 final at Rio Paralympic Games". Quest Community News. The Courier Mail. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  21. "Brenden Hall". Queensland Academy of Sport website. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  22. "Australia Day honours list 2014: in full". Daily Telegraph. 26 January 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  23. "21st Annual Queensland Sport Awards" (PDF). QSport website. 30 November 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2015.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.