UC student brings home Paralympic Gold

Tara Nichols

29 October: Industrial design student, Evan O’Hanlon, recently returned from Beijing with the title of Australia’s fastest cerebral palsy sprinter. He took home gold medals and broke world records in all three of the Paralympic events he competed in.

Mr O’Hanlon competed in the men’s T38 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay sprints in record times, breaking 11 seconds in the 100m sprint and 22 seconds in the 200m sprint setting new Paralympic and world records.

Australia's fastest cerebral palsy sprinter, Evan O'Hanlon, won three Gold Medals and set three world records at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing

“My first win was the 100m and it felt really special being my first Paralympic medal,” Mr O’Hanlon said. “It almost felt like a dream as I crossed the line and realised I was the first athlete with cerebral palsy to run under 11 seconds.

“My second gold in the 200m event felt more like a relief. I felt under a bit more pressure going into the 200m after my performance in the 100m and I really wanted to crack the 22 second barrier.

“The third gold was just pure excitement knowing that the whole thing was over and knowing I had clean swept my events. I couldn’t have asked for anymore.”

Mr O’Hanlon got involved in sprinting at a young age and started training professionally in 2005 when he was in year 11 at school. That year he attended his first international event, the European Championships, and won Gold in both the 100m and 200m events. In 2006 he competed in the World Championships in Holland where he was disappointingly disqualified in the 100m event for a false start. Since sweeping the track in Beijing, he definitely plans on competing in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

“I’m very lucky that I have a mild form of cerebral palsy which hasn’t really affected my life greatly other than not being able to play contact sport. To others out there with a disability, I say get involved as soon as possible. It will change your whole outlook as it did for me.”