Daniel Fitzgibbon

Daniel Fitzgibbon

Australian Paralympic sailor Fitzgibbon in 2011
Personal information
Nationality  Australia
Born 15 June 1976
Manly, Queensland

Daniel Fitzgibbon, OAM (born 15 June 1976) is an Australian Paralympic sailor, who won a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing and a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. He has received a Sailor of the Year with a Disability award from Yachting Australia four times.

Biography

Daniel Gerard Fitzgibbon was born in The Brisbane suburb of Manly on 15 June 1976. Having sailed since the age of five, he joined the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron in 1990.[1][2] On 29 March 1997, an incident occurred at the Middle Harbour Yacht Club jetty in which he broke his neck, leaving him a quadraplegic.[3] He sued the Waterways Authority for negligence at the New South Wales Supreme Court. Fitzgibbon, who claimed that he was pushed into the water, stated that it was their failure to include a handrail in the design of the jetty that caused him to fall off. They stated that he dived in because he thought a friend was drowning, and thus was responsible for the accident.[4] His claim was unsuccessful, and he appealed to the High Court of Australia,[5] who ruled by a 4–3 majority that the case should be re-heard on the basis that all the evidence presented at the original hearing was not properly considered.[5]

In 2004 Fitzgibbon competed in the Disabled Sailing World Championship, which he won in his class,[3] and was jointly awarded the Disabled Sailor of the Year along with Andrew Hartley.[6]

In 2007, Fitzgibbon partnered with Rachael Cox in the SKUD International Championships, where they won a gold medal.[7] They later competed in the IFDS World Championships and placed fifth.[7] They were jointly named as Sailors of the Year with a Disability.[7] The two teamed up again in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics in the SKUD 18 class and won the silver medal.[8] The class, which premiered at the 2008 games, was created when Fitzgibbon convinced the International Foundation for Disabled Sailing to adapt the class to allow two sailors with disabilities to participate.[3] They were again jointly named the Sailors of the Year with a Disability.[7]

Fitzgibbon and Tesch receiving the Team of the Year award at the 2012 Australian Paralympian of the Year ceremony

After seeing Liesl Tesch in an SBS documentary about the boat Sailors with Disabilities competing in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, Fitzgibbon contacted her in late 2010 and they formed a sailing partnership.[9] He partnered with Tesch at the ISAF World Cup in January 2011 where they won gold,[10] and at the IFDS World Championships in July, where they won bronze.[11] The pair were jointly named as Sailors of the Year with a Disability, the fourth time Fitzgibbon won the award.[7]

At the 2012 London Paralympics, the pair won a gold medal in the Mixed Two Person SKUD18.[8] He was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in the 2014 Australia Day Honours "for service to sport as a Gold Medallist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games."[1]

At the 2014 IFDS World Championships in Halifax, Canada , Fitzgibbon teamed with Tesch to win the two-person SKUD 18 class.[12] In November 2014, Fitzgibbon shared the Yachting Australia Sailor of the Year with a Disability award with Liesl Tesch, Colin Harrison, Jonathan Harris, Russell Boaden and Matthew Bugg. The Australian team of six sailors beat Great Britain by one point at the IFDS World Championship.[13] Fitzgibbon and Tesch won the 2014 NSW Sports Award for Team of the Year with a Disability.[14]


References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Australia Day honours list 2014: in full". Daily Telegraph. 26 January 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  2. ↑ "Daniel Fitzgibbon — Bio". Yachting Queensland. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Murdoch, Alex (11 January 2008). "Sailor Dan Fitzgibbon on right tack to Paralympics". Courier Mail. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  4. ↑ "High Court of Australia: The Waterways Authority v Daniel Gerard Fitzgibbon" (PDF). High Court of Australia. 5 October 2005. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Court to re-hear quadriplegic's damages claim". ABC news. 5 October 2005. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  6. ↑ "2004 Disabled Sailor of the Year Announced at Access Dinghy Championship". Yachting Australia. 7 October 2004. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 "Sailor of the Year with a Disability". Australian Sailing Team. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Daniel Fitzgibbon's profile on paralympic.org. Retrieved 20 October 2012.
  9. ↑ Lewis, Daniel (26 August 2012). "At home with Liesl Tesch". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  10. ↑ Heydon, Craig (29 January 2011). "Gold for Australian Paralympic crew at Miami OCR". Yachting Australia. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  11. ↑ "Britain’s Rickham and Birrell to Challenge in Melbourne". International Paralympic Committee. 4 November 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  12. ↑ "Results". IFDS Worlds 2014 website. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  13. ↑ "Stellar night for Australian sailing at Yachting Australia Awards 2014". Yachting Australia News. 1 November 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  14. ↑ Zillich, Cora (20 February 2015). "Fitzgibbon and Tesch claim top NSW Sports Award for Team of the Year". Sail World. Retrieved 19 March 2015.

External links