Graham Condon
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use New Zealand English Script error: No such module "infobox".Template:Wikidata imageScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for clobbered parameters".
Graham Thomas Condon Template:Post-nominals (11 February 1949 – 8 September 2007) was a disabled athlete who won seven medals for New Zealand competing in Paralympic swimming and athletic events and a total of 36 medals in international competition overall. He was also a local-body politician and a disability advocate.
Biography
Condon was born in Christchurch in 1949.[1] He was rendered a paraplegic after contracting childhood polio.[2] Condon was the only New Zealander to take part in six consecutive Paralympics.[3] He competed in the Paralympics in athletics and swimming at both the 1968 Tel Aviv and 1972 Heidelberg Games, and won a gold medal in the Men's Discus 3 event at the latter competition.[4] He participated in athletics and swimming at the 1976 Toronto Paralympics[2][5] and won a gold medal in the Men's Discus 2 event and a silver medal in the Men's Slalom 2 event at the 1980 Arnhem Games; he also participated in swimming at the 1980 games.[4] At the 1984 New York/Stoke Mandeville Games, he won two bronze medals in the Men's Marathon 2 and Men's Slalom 2 events.[4] During the Marathon, he was with a bloc of competitors from Australia, America, and Canada when he hit a pothole around the Script error: No such module "convert". mark, causing the competitor behind him, Robert McIntyre, to lose his balance and flip upside down. Condon helped McIntyre back into position and ended up coming third.[4][6] His final Paralympics were the 1988 Seoul Games, where he won a silver medal in the Men's Slalom 2 event.[4] He won a total of seven Paralympic medals and 36 medals in international competitions throughout his career.[7]
He was one of the founding members of Parafed Canterbury, which strives to boost sport and recreational involvement among disabled people.[8] He was also a board member of the national sports agency SPARC for five years.[9] Condon was elected as a Christchurch city councillor in 1995 and served four terms as a city councillor.[2][10] He was standing for re-election for the Shirley-Papanui ward in the October 2007 election.[2]
Death
On Saturday 8 September 2007 the 58-year-old Condon was killed in an accident involving a car while riding his hand-propelled bicycle.[2] He was struck by a fifteen-year-old driver on Lower Styx Road, Brooklands.[11] The funeral was held at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament where hundreds of mourners paid their respects.[12] He was survived by his wife of 35 years, Kath, and his two children, Craig and Andrea.[2][13]
Recognition
Condon was awarded the Queen's Service Medal for community service in the 1982 Queen's Birthday Honours,[14] and a New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal in 1990.[13]
The Graham Condon Recreation and Sports Centre at the Papanui High School campus in Papanui, which opened on 9 October 2011, is named after him.[15] Parafed Canterbury have also named a scholarship after him.[8]
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b c d e f Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b c d e Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
External links
- Template:Paralympics New Zealand
- Template:IPC athlete (1968, 1972, 1980, 1984, 1988)
- Pages with script errors
- Pages with broken file links
- 1949 births
- 2007 deaths
- New Zealand lawyers with disabilities
- New Zealand politicians with disabilities
- Polio survivors
- New Zealand male swimmers
- Wheelchair discus throwers
- New Zealand wheelchair racers
- People with paraplegia
- Road incident deaths in New Zealand
- Recipients of the Queen's Service Medal
- New Zealand justices of the peace
- Christchurch City Councillors
- Wheelchair-category Paralympic competitors
- Paralympic athletes for New Zealand
- Paralympic swimmers for New Zealand
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Paralympics
- Swimmers at the 1968 Summer Paralympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Paralympics
- Swimmers at the 1972 Summer Paralympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Paralympics
- Swimmers at the 1976 Summer Paralympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Paralympics
- Swimmers at the 1980 Summer Paralympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Paralympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Paralympics
- Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Paralympic gold medalists for New Zealand
- Paralympic silver medalists for New Zealand
- Paralympic bronze medalists for New Zealand
- Medalists at the 1972 Summer Paralympics
- Medalists at the 1980 Summer Paralympics
- Medalists at the 1984 Summer Paralympics
- Medalists at the 1988 Summer Paralympics
- 20th-century New Zealand politicians
- 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen