John Twomey (sailor)

John Twomey (born 7 July 1955)[1] is an Irish Paralympic athlete and sailor. He has represented Ireland at 11 consecutive Paralympic games winning medals at three of them.[2]

John Twomey
Personal information
NationalityIrish
Born7 July 1955
Ballinhassig, Cork
Sport
ClubKinsale Yacht Club
Medal record
Representing  Ireland
Paralympic Games
Table Tennis
Silver medal – second place 1976 TorontoTable Tennis
Discus
Gold medal – first place 1988 SeoulDiscus
Bronze medal – third place 1984 EnglandDiscus
Sailing

Personal life

Born in Cork, Twomey was a local hurler and a competitive cyclist until he was injured in a cycling competition in March 1970 aged just 14. He broke his back and has used a wheelchair since.[3]

Athlete

Twomey became a track and field athlete representing Ireland from 1976 to 1996 at the Paralympics in the discus event. He won both Gold and Bronze medals in Discus and the Silver medal in table tennis. When he retired from athletics the timing was right that he could take up his other sport of Sailing at Olympic level. In 1996 Sailing was a demonstration event at the Paralympics and in 2000 Twomey qualified to represent Ireland in the Sonar.[4]

Sailor

He has been the helmsman in the Mixed Three Person Sonar, a 23-foot two sail keelboat in the 2000 Sydney Games, 2004 Athens Games, 2012 London Games and 2016 Rio Games and the Mixed Two Person SKUD18 in 2008 Beijing Games[5][6][7]

At the 2013 ISAF World Championships in Weymouth, he teamed with Ian Costelloe and Austin O’Carroll to win the bronze medal in the Sonar Class.[8] They finished sixth in the Miami event.[9]

Twomey was elected President of the International Association for Disabled Sailing in 2012.[10] He was responsible for helping the IFDS through three major challenges which occurred after that including a court case related to the 2012 Paralympics, the merger of the IFDS and the ISAF as well as the loss of sailing as a paralympic sport in the 2020 Paralympics.[11]

Twomey lead the Ireland team out during the opening ceremony as the national flag bearer of the Rio 2016 Games.[12][13]

References
  1. "Irish Sailing Foundation". 2016.
  2. "Paralympic Results table". Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  3. "Southern star". Archived from the original on 15 February 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  4. "Spokeout Magazine" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  5. "Para sailing". Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  6. "11 times competing". Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  7. "Preparing to qualify for 11th time". Archived from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  8. "Bronze medal win for Ireland at IFAS World Championships". Irish Times. 13 November 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  9. "Miami WC 2016". Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  10. "international-association-for-disabled-sailing". Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  11. "royal cork". Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  12. "Emotional opening ceremony as Ireland flag-bearer John takes his final bow". Independent. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  13. "Full list of flag bearers for opening ceremony of Rio 2016 Paralympic Games". Rio2016.com. International Paralympic Committee. 7 September 2016. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
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