Sandy Blythe
| File:141100 - Wheelchair basketball Sandy Blythe action - 3b - 2000 Sydney match photo.jpg Sandy Blythe in action during competition at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Robert Alexander Blythe |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Born | 24 February 1962 Geelong, Victoria, Australia |
| Died | 18 November 2005 (aged 43) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
Medal record | |
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Robert Alexander "Sandy" Blythe, OAM[1][2] (24 February 1962 – 18 November 2005) was an Australian wheelchair basketball player. He became a paraplegic due to a car accident in 1981, and went on to participate in the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team at four Paralympic Games, captaining the gold medal-winning team at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics. He committed suicide in 2005 at the age of 43 after a long illness.
Biography
[edit | edit source]Blythe was born in Geelong on 24 February 1962.[3] He grew up in a farm outside the Victorian town of Derrinallum and was a champion Australian rules football player as a teenager. He played in the Teal Cup and was later part of the St Kilda Football Club country squad.[4] In 1981, he began studying at the Ballarat College of Advanced Education, but later that year, he was involved in a three-car collision that rendered him paraplegic.[4][5] In 1984 he obtained his physical education degree on schedule, despite his six-month rehabilitation at Austin Hospital.[5]
He was part of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team at the 1988 Seoul, 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, and 2000 Sydney Paralympics.[6] He was the captain of the team when it won a gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games and was co-captain with Priya Cooper of the Australian Paralympic team at the 2000 Sydney Games.[7][8] He had an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship in 1998 for wheelchair basketball.[9]
Blythe was also a motivational speaker who formed and worked in several businesses that improved public awareness of people with disabilities.[4][5] In 2000, he released a memoir, Blythe Spirit.[10]
On 18 November 2005, Blythe committed suicide; he had had depression and chronic fatigue syndrome for several years.[4][11] He had been in an eight-year domestic partnership with wheelchair basketballer Paula Coghlan until his death.[12]
Recognition
[edit | edit source]Blythe received a Medal of the Order of Australia in 1997 for his 1996 gold medal.[1] In 2000, he received an Australian Sports Medal.[2] The Sandy Blythe Medal, awarded to the best player of the year in the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team, is named in his honour.[13] In 2010, he was posthumously inducted into the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame.[7]
References
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External links
[edit | edit source]- Sandy Blythe at the International Paralympic Committee Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
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- 1962 births
- 2005 suicides
- 2005 deaths
- Australian Institute of Sport Athletes with a Disability alumni
- Paralympic wheelchair basketball players for Australia
- Paralympic gold medalists for Australia
- Paralympic medalists in wheelchair basketball
- Wheelchair basketball players at the 1988 Summer Paralympics
- Wheelchair basketball players at the 1992 Summer Paralympics
- Wheelchair basketball players at the 1996 Summer Paralympics
- Wheelchair basketball players at the 2000 Summer Paralympics
- Medalists at the 1996 Summer Paralympics
- Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia
- Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal
- People with paraplegia
- Sportspeople from Geelong
- Federation University Australia alumni
- Suicides in Victoria (state)
- Australian sportspeople who committed suicide
- People with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome
- Male suicides