Earle Connor

Earle Connor
Personal information
Nationality Canadian
Born July 30, 1976
Castlegar, British Columbia
Height 173 cm (68 in) (2008)
Weight 66 kg (146 lb) (2008)
Sport
Country  Canada
Sport Athletics
Event(s) 100 m, 200 m, 400 m, long jump
Achievements and titles
Paralympic finals

2008 Summer Paralympics: 100 m T42 Gold 2000 Summer Paralympics: 100 m T42 Gold

2000 Summer Paralympics: 200 m T42 Silver
Personal best(s)

60 m: 7.87 (2006, WR)
100 m: 12.08 (2008, WR)[1]
200 m: 26.40 (2006)

400 m: 1:07.32 (2006)

Earle Connor (July 30, 1976-) is a Canadian Paralympic amputee sprinter. Connor holds several athletics world records in the class of T42, or above-knee, amputee.

Biography

Early life

Earle Connor was born July 30, 1976 in Castlegar, British Columbia to Dave and Diane Connor. Because he was born without a left fibula, his left leg was amputated above-the-knee when he was 3 months old.[2] At the age of 9 months Earle was fitted with his first prosthetic leg.

Growing up in rural Saskatchewan, Connor played all available sports, excelling at hockey, tennis and baseball, and graduated from Rosthern Junior College. Connor was the first amputee ever drafted into the Canadian Junior Hockey system as a goaltender.

Paralympic career

Connor was inspired by watching television coverage of the 1996 Summer Paralympics to become an amputee sprinter with the goal of competing at the 2000 Summer Paralympics. At the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney, he took gold in the 100-metre final, but finished second in the 200 metres when a misstep on the first corner cost him a few seconds.

Connor missed the 2004 Summer Paralympics because of tesacel cancer due to cancer-related concerns in 2001.In 2004 Connors urine samples were found to contain banned substance from his cancer medicine, and he was disqualified from attending the Paralympics. He has never admitted having used steroids but openly admitted using his medication without gaining approval.[3]

He returned to the Paralympics in 2008, winning gold in the men's T42 100 m sprint and setting a new Paralympic record time of 12.32 seconds.[4]

Awards

References

  1. "Earle Connor breaks 100m Amputee World Record… on his birthday". Canadian Paralympic Committee. 2008-07-30.
  2. Munroe, Dustin (2008-09-03). "Beijing gold rush". The Star Phoenix.
  3. "Star Canadian sprinter out of Paralympics after positive test". CBC Sports. 2004-09-15.
  4. Kingston, Gary (2008-09-14). "Paralympics: Redemption for Canada's Earle Connor as he cruises to sprinting gold". Vancouver Sun.

External links