James Turner (parathlete)

James Michael Apsley Turner, OAM (born 22 May 1996) is an Australian Paralympic athlete and soccer player with cerebral palsy. He has represented Australia as part of the Australia Paralympic soccer team, the ParaRoos, and was its player of the year in 2013. At the 2016 Summer Paralympics, he won the Men's 800m T36 in a world record time of 2:02.39.[1] At the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London, he won three gold medals; he followed this up with two gold medals at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai and a gold and silver medal at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo.[2]

James Turner
James Turner in 2019
Personal information
Full nameJames Michael Apsley Turner
NationalityAustralian
Born (1996-05-22) 22 May 1996
Sydney, New South Wales
Sport
Disability classT36
Event(s)100m, 400m (Previously 800m, 200m)
Coached byIryna Dvoskina
Medal record
Track and field (athletics) T36
Paralympic Games
Gold medal – first place2016 Rio de Janeiro800 m T36
Gold medal – first place2020 Tokyo400 m T36
Silver medal – second place2020 Tokyo100 m T36
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2017 London200 m T36
Gold medal – first place2017 London400 m T36
Gold medal – first place2017 London800 m T36
Gold medal – first place2019 Dubai100 m T36
Gold medal – first place2019 Dubai400 m T36
Gold medal – first place2023 Paris100 m T36
Gold medal – first place2023 Paris400 m T36

Personal

James Turner was born on 22 May 1996 in Sydney, New South Wales. He has cerebral palsy. He grew up in Diamond Beach, New South Wales.[3] In 2015, he commenced a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wollongong.[4] He has since moved to Canberra and commenced a Bachelor of Sports and Exercise Science at the University of Canberra.

Football

Turner played 7-a-side soccer as a midfielder for New South Wales starting in 2009, and for the Australian national 7-a-side team, the Pararoos, in 2012.[4] By November 2013, he had 16 caps, and was named Paralympic Football Player of the Year at the 2013 FFA Australian Football Awards night on 13 November 2013. The head coach of the Pararoos, Paul Brown, said that "James has pace to burn and he gets forward on the overlap to worry defenders in their third. He has the potential to be one of the best players that Australia has ever produced if he stays on the path that he is at present".[5] Unfortunately for the Pararoos, ranked tenth in the world, in July 2014 the Australian Sports Commission cut funding for the 7-a-side soccer program on the grounds that the team was unlikely to make the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[6] After a public outcry, the team was revived with a new funding model in 2015.[7] Despite the fundraising efforts, the Pararoos failed to qualify for Rio.[8]

Athletics

Turner started with Forster-Tuncurry Athletics club as an eight-year-old and at the age of 15 joined the Hunter Academy of Sport AWD middle-distance running program.[3] In 2015, Turner turned his talents to back athletics on the encouragement of Athletics Australia,[3] where he is classified as a T36 athlete. He was coached first by Marie Kay and from 2016 by Brett Robinson in Wollongong, New South Wales.[4] At the Australian Athletics Championships in March 2016, he ran the 800m in 2:08.90, which was a Paralympic qualifier.[9] In the IPC Grand Prix in Canberra February, he had posted an even faster time of 2.08.8.[4][10] In August 2016, it was announced that had been selected to represent Australia at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro in the 800m event.[11] He was ranked number two in the world in this event in his classification.[12]

James Turner with the gold medal he won at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics in the men's T36 400m.

At the 2016 Summer Paralympics, Turner won the Men's 800m T36 in a world record time of 2:02.39.[1] In December 2016, he was named Australian Paralympic Rookie of the Year.[13]

At the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London, Turner won three gold medals – Men's 200m T36 (world record time 24.09 (−0.4)), Men's 400m T36 and Men's 800m T36.[14][15][16] After the London 2017 World Para-Athletics Championships, James moved to Canberra to be coached by Iryna Dvoskina at the Australian Institute Of Sport.

Turner's Rio Paralympics gold medal event, the 800m, is not on the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics program. As a result, he has changed to short distances – currently the 100m and 400m.[17]

At the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, Turner ran 11.72 and broke the world record in winning the Men's 100m T36 and followed up with gold in the Men's 400m T46 in a world record time of 51.71.[18][19]

Turner competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo.[20] He won gold in the Men's 400 metres T36, setting a new games record with a time of 52.80. He also won silver in the Men's 400 m T36 having qualified first in his heat.[2]

At the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris, Turner won gold medals in the Men's 100m and 400m T46 events.[21]

Recognition

References
  1. "James Turner". Rio Paralympics Official site. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  2. "Australian Paralympic Team for Tokyo 2021". The Roar. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  3. "Athletics provides Rio lifeline for Para footballer". Athletics NSW website. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  4. "James Turner". Australian Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  5. "Turner wins Pararoo Football Player of the Year". Football New South Wales. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  6. Damjanovic, Dijana (15 July 2014). "Rio 2016 Paralympics: Australia's Pararoos offside without government funding". Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  7. "Pararoos are go". Football Australia. 18 March 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  8. "Pararoos battle heroically but miss out on Rio". 3 July 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  9. "#AAC16". Athletics Australia. 31 March 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  10. "Isis Holt smashes 200m world record at Canberra Grand Prix". International Paralympic Committee. 7 February 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  11. "Australian Paralympic Athletics Team announced". Australian Paralympic Committee News, 2 August 2016. Archived from the original on 9 April 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  12. McDonald, Mick (10 August 2016). "Turner targets gold in Rio". Great Lakes Advocate. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  13. "Six inducted into the Australian Paralympic Hall of Fame". Australian Paralympic Committee. 9 December 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  14. Ryner, Sascha. "Reardon and Turner crowned kings of the track". Athletics Australia News, 18 July 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  15. Ryner, Sascha. "Photo decider sees O'Hanlon reclaim glory". Athletics Australia News. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  16. Ryner, Sascha. "Three from three for Turner as Team Australia finish with 28 medals". Athletics Australia News, 24 July 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  17. "James Turner". Athletics Australia website. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  18. "World Para Athletics Championships Dubai – Day 4 Recap". Athletics Australia. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  19. "World Para Athletics Championships Dubai – Day 8 Recap". Athletics Australia. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  20. "Para-athletics Stars Perris and Turner Secure Their Paralympic Passage to Tokyo". Paralympics Australia. 17 April 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  21. "Turner Lights Fuse as four Australians earn Paris Podium". Athletics Australia. 16 July 2023. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
  22. "Congrats James! Paralympic gold medallist and world record holder @Jimmy_T36 has been announced as Male Para-Athlete of Year 2016". Athletics Australia Twitter.
  23. "OAM Final Media Notes (S-Z)" (PDF). Governor General of Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 January 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  24. "Our best athletes honoured at Athletics Australia Gala Dinner". Athletics Australia website. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  25. "Athletics Australia Awards – 2019 Season Winners". Athletics Australia. 10 June 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
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