Josef Craig

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Josef Craig
Personal information
Born (1997-02-17) 17 February 1997
Hebburn, England
Sport
Sport Swimming
Club South Tyneside SC
Coach Paul Robinson
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing  Great Britain
Paralympic Games
Gold 2012 London 400 m freestyle S7
World Championships
Gold 2013 Montreal 100 m freestyle S7
Gold 2013 Montreal 400 m freestyle S7
Silver 2013 Montreal 50 m freestyle S7

Josef Isaac Craig, MBE (born on 17 February 1997) is a British Paralympic swimmer. Craig competes in S7 events and qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympics, winning the gold in a world record time in the men's 400 m freestyle event.[1]

Personal life

Craig was born in South Shields, Tyne and Wear on 17 February 1997.[2] Craig, who has cerebral palsy, was introduced to disability swimming at the age of nine, before entering competitive swimming a few years later.[3] Noted as a swimming talent from a young age, and ear-marked for the Great Britain team at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Craig's career suffered a setback when he was diagnosed with Graves' disease in 2011.[2] The condition, which affects the thyroid gland, caused severe weight loss in Craig, but after having his thyroid removed he quickly returned to swimming.[2] He is a supporter of Newcastle United FC.[4]

Career history

Craig trains at the South Tyneside Swimming Club.[5] In 2012 he set five personal bests at the Paralympic trials for the 2012 Games in London and then won his first British medal with a bronze in the 100 m freestyle at the 2012 British Swimming Championships.[2] Later that year, at the British International Disability Championships, he improved again on his personal best to take the youth 100 m freestyle title. In the same tournament, Craig took the gold in the men's youth 50 m, with a time of 29.95s, and the bronze in the men's open 400 m challenge.<ref name="swimming"/

Craig's performances in 2012 saw him selected for the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. He was selected for four events, the 50 m freestyle, 100 m freestyle and his favoured 400 m freestyle, all in the S7 class. Craig qualified for the final of the 50 m freestyle with a time of 29.48 seconds and then shaved almost a tenth of a second from this to finish 7th. He also qualified out of the heats in the 100 m event, finishing fourth with a time of 1:04.00. In the final he ended just outside the podium position with a fourth place and a time of 1:02.20. On 6 September in his final event, the 400 m freestyle, Craig set a new world record of 4:45.79 to take the fastest qualifying position in his morning heat.[6] In the finals that afternoon he recorded a time of 4:42.81 to beat his own world record set earlier that day, and saw him finish first to collect the gold; his first Paralympic medal, making him Great Britain's youngest 2012 gold medal winner.[7] To commemorate his gold medal Royal Mail painted a post box gold in his hometown of Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, and produced a first class stamp featuring a picture of him.[8] As a result of his success he was jointly awarded the North East Sports Personality of the Year award, along with Olympian rower Kat Copeland in December 2012.[9] Then, on 16 December, Craig was made Young Sports Personality of the year for 2012 at the BBC's main annual award.[10]

Craig was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to swimming.[11][12]

See also

  • 2012 Olympics gold post boxes in the United Kingdom

References

  1. ↑ "Paralympics 2012: Josef Craig claims 400m gold in record time". Retrieved 6 September 2012. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Meet the Team - Josef Craig". swimming.org. Retrieved 6 September 2012. 
  3. ↑ "Josef Craig". paralympics.channel4.com. 15 August 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2012. 
  4. ↑ http://www.nufc.co.uk/page/TV/FeaturesDetail/0,,10278~2968610,00.html
  5. ↑ "Josef Craig". British Paralympic Association. Retrieved 7 September 2012. 
  6. ↑ Cunningham, Sam (6 September 2012). "He's done it again! Craig smashes own world record to earn gold in S7 400m final". Mail Online. Retrieved 7 September 2012. 
  7. ↑ Pearce, Nick (6 September 2012). "Paralympics 2012: Josef Craig wins gold for Great Britain in 400m freestyle and breaks his own world record". The Telegraph. Retrieved 7 September 2012. 
  8. ↑ "Josef Craig celebrated with gold Jarrow postbox". BBC News. 8 September 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2012. 
  9. ↑ "Kat Copeland and Josef Craig share North East award". BBC Sport. 7 December 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2012. 
  10. ↑ "Josef Craig wins BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year". BBC Sport. 16 December 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2012. 
  11. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 60367. p. 24. 29 December 2012.
  12. ↑ Cabinet Office
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