Chris Bond (wheelchair rugby)
 2012 Australian Paralympic Team portrait of Bond | ||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Christopher Adam Bond | |||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Australia | |||||||||||||||
| Born | 28 May 1986 | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | |||||||||||||||
| Sport |
Wheelchair rugby 3.5 | |||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Chris Bond, OAM (born 28 May 1986) is an Australian wheelchair rugby player. He was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in wheelchair rugby.
Personal
Christopher Adam Bond and his identical twin brother were born on 28 May 1986,[1][2][3] and grew up in the Australian Capital Territory.[2][4] He is missing both legs below his knees, his left wrist and his right four fingers as a result of a severe bowel infection from a flesh eating bacterium he got while being treated for leukemia when he was nineteen years old.[1][2] During his rehab, he was often one of the youngest people in gym.[1] While he adjusted to life without his limbs, he started swimming at the pool at the Australian Institute of Sport.[1][2] When he was young, he played rugby league and was a fan of the Canberra Raiders. Following his illness, he became friends with Clinton Schifcofske, the Raiders former captain.[2] From 2008 to August 2011, he served as a board member of an organisation for young people trying to deal with their own cancer called CanTeen. During his time on the board, he also served as the organisation's national vice president.[2][5] In 2012, he lived in Queensland.[4]
Wheelchair rugby
Bond is a 3.5 point wheelchair rugby player.[2] In 2010, he began looking for a team sport to play and contacted Brad Dubberley, the head coach of the Australia national wheelchair rugby team who encouraged Bond to try the sport based on his existing love of rugby.[2]
Bond plays for the Gold Coast Wheelchair Rugby Titans in the National Wheelchair Rugby League and was with the team in 2011 and 2012.[6][7] In 2011, he was named the league's most improved player.[7]
Bond made his national team debut at the 2011 Great Britain Cup.[2] Wearing jersey number 10,[4] he represented Australia at the 2012 Canada Cup International Wheelchair Rugby Tournament. In the game against Canada, he and teammate Ryley Batt proved difficult for the Canadians to contain.[8] In May 2012, he participated in a test series against Japan national wheelchair rugby team in Sydney.[9] He scored eighteen goals in the fourth game which Australia won 47 – 44, and twenty goals in the fifth game where Australia won 61 – 55.[10] He played in the London Paralympic test event. He scored 14 points in the game against Canada national wheelchair rugby team that Australia won 56-52 and 20 points in the game against Sweden national wheelchair rugby team that Australia won 65-88.[11] In the finals match against Great Britain national wheelchair rugby team, he scored 22 points in Australia's 71-48 victory.[12] He was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in wheelchair rugby.[2] Going into London, his team was ranked second in the world behind the United States.[13] He was part of the team that won the gold medal.[14] The Australian team went through the five day tournament undefeated.[15]
Bond was a member of the Australian team that won its first world championship gold medal at the 2014 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships at Odense, Denmark.[16]
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."[3]
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Chris Bond: Training to medal, not just to impress the girls". International Paralympic Committee. 2012-07-27. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Chris Bond". Australia: Australian Paralympic Committee. 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
- 1 2 "Australia Day honours list 2014: in full". Daily Telegraph. 26 January 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
- 1 2 3 "Australia". Coupe Canada Cup 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
- ↑ "Beating cancer the hard way". Our World Today. 2011-10-28. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
- ↑ "Jetstar Gold Coast Titans Wheelchair Rugby Team". Sportingwheelies.org.au. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
- 1 2 "NWRL Award History". National Wheelchair Rugby League. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
- ↑ "- Kelowna's Hickling key with Team Canada's wheelchair rugby team". Kelowna Capital News. 2012-06-22. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
- ↑ Michelmore, Karen (2012-05-04). "Australia's Steelers smash and crash their way to London -". ABC Sydney — Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
- ↑ "IWRF News". International Wheelchair Rugby Federation. 2012-05-05. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
- ↑ "International Wheelchair Rugby Federation : IWRF News". International Wheelchair Rugby Federation. 2012-04-18. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
- ↑ "Steelers defeat Great Britain on home soil". Sportingwheelies.org.au. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
- ↑ "Hose realises London dream". Camperdown Chronicle. 2012-05-08. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
- ↑ "Mixed Wheelchair Rugby - Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby". Official site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
- ↑ "Batt stars as Australia win gold". Official site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 9 September 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
- ↑ "Australia wins first ever IWRF World Championship". Australian Paralympic Committee News. 11 August 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.