Chris Daw

Christopher Daw

Personal information
Born	February 1, 1970 North York, Ontario
Education	Strathroy District Collegiate Institute
Alma mater	University of Tennessee
Occupation	Athlete, Executive Director/General Manager, Motivational Speaker, Business Consultant
Height	5’ 9”
Weight	275 lb (125 kg)
Spouse(s)	M. Brown (m. 1993) M. Tweedy (m. 2009)
Website	http://www.chrisdaw.ca http://wcblog2.com http://wheelchaircurler.blogspot.com/
Sport
Country	Canada
Medal record Competitor for  Canada Wheelchair curling Paralympic Games 2006 Turin World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2002 Sursee 2004 Sursee Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship 2004 London 2005 Richmond 2006 Richmond Personal Information

Christopher (Chris) Daw (born February 1, 1970 in North York, Ontario) is a Paralympian who competed in adaptive track, marathons, wheelchair basketball, volleyball, wheelchair rugby, and curling for Canada.^[1] He was once considered the fastest wheelchair athlete in 1995 though 1997, and is the only Canadian athlete to represent Canada at multiple Paralympic Games for 4 different sports. He is also one of the few athletes to represent Canada at both Summer & Winter Paralympic Games. In 1986, he won 6 Gold medals and set 6 world records at the first World Games for disabled youth in Nottingham, England. He was a member of the 1984 & 1988 Canadian Paralympic adaptive track teams; a member of the Canadian Wheelchair Basketball team, and a member of the Canadian Wheelchair Rugby Team at the 2000 Summer Paralympics before taking up wheelchair curling in 2000.

During Daw's athletic career he has attended over 125 National Championships, 64 World Championships, 4 Paralympics and 1 Olympics for a medal total over 600 for Canada including a dozen World Championships, 19 World records and Paralympic Gold medal performances. Although his sports include Canadian representation for Track, Basketball, Rugby, Volleyball, and Curling, he has also participated as an elite athlete in Field, Badminton and holds high level black belts in Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu.

Curling

Daw delivering a stone

He entered curling in 2000. He was the skip of the Canadian team at the 2002 World Wheelchair Curling Championship in Sursee, Switzerland, where the team won silver.^[2] Two years later, he would again be the skip of the Canadian team and the Wheelchair Curling championship, again in Sursee, where the team won bronze.^[2] He would be the skip of the Canadian team, which won Gold in Wheelchair curling at the 2006 Winter Paralympics. In 2007 he withdrew his name from the Team Canada selection process that could have led to a spot on the 2010 Winter Paralympics. He resurfaced as part of the Wheelchair Curling Team for Newfoundland as Skip in 2008, only to relocate to British Columbia in 2009. He was the General manager of the Vancouver Curling Club when it took over the Olympic Curling center (now Hillcrest Center) in 2011. Daw returned to Ontario in 2011 for undisclosed reasons.^[3]

In 2010, it was announced that Daw was returning to competitive curling by joining Jim Armstrong (curler). As Jim's second on a local BC team in provincial play-downs; with hopes of representing Team BC. Team Armstrong was unsuccessful in capturing the 2011 BC Championship title. Armstrong would later move to Ontario. Daw would announce his retirement in December 2011.^[4][5]

Retirement

In 2011, Daw formally announced his retirement from competitive sports to focus on his family and career.^[6] In January 2012 after Eric Eales of wheelchaircurling.com stopped publishing his blog posting^[7] on wheelchair curling; it was announced Daw was taking over with a new blog spot called Wheelchair Curling Blog 2.^[8] Daw received over 5000 readers in the first month on the new blog which changed formats allowing for publishing of stories on wheelchair curling from around the world though direct input by the players, coaches or interested parties. The blog after 2015 National championships in Quebec experienced over 5.5 million+ viewers^[7]

Post retirement Daw has also been very active as a motivational speaker; as a speaker for the Rick Hansen foundation, 2010 for the Vancouver games as the lead curling commentator for Paralympic Sport TV and in 2014 appears as CBC curling analyst for the Sochi Paralympic Games doing on air taped and LIVE coverage for the company

Business Venues

After leaving Vancouver in 2011, in 2012, Daw signed on with Ken Strong to support a sports venue, Ice Twice Rinks Inc.^[9] in Oakville, Ontario. He became the Executive Director of the business. In eight months, Daw was able to fully recover the facility from financial hardship. With dimensions over 70,000 square feet, the facility was home to two rinks, a goalie pad, a shooting pad, a board room, a multi-purpose room, and space for dry land training. Programs at the rink were run by experienced coaches such as Al Iafrate, Eddi Choi, Christina Kessler, Ryan Munce, and Bill Hoover. Daw left Ice Twice Rinks in 2015, which was sold in for profit to Jamie Allison; a former NHL player with the Chicago Blackhawks.^[10]

Disability

Daw was originally diagnosed with a rare condition known as arthrogryposis multiplex congenita. During a number of tests, medical doctors in 1990 re-diagnosed Daw with an even rarer condition known as fetal stroke. The condition has left Daw as one of the rare survivors who has lived longer than any others. Because of how the condition affected Daw, the muscles in his legs never developed. Although his legs do not generate enough strength to walk, he has experienced no loss of sensation and can use them generally for all other purposes. Daw also had his left hand and forearm impacted by the condition, which has often affected his classification during his Paralympic career. Due to this, he is the only Paralympic athlete in history who has fulfilled classification requirements for both paraplegic and quadriplegicsthus allowing him to participate in wheelchair rugby and sport reserved for quadriplegics.^[11]

Personal life

In 2006 it was reported that Daw had three children, with his now ex-wife Mari.^[12] In March, 2009 Daw married his now current wife Morgan, a former member of Canada's junior women's softball team. On February 23, 2010, Daw and Morgan gave birth to their only daughter Arowyn Emma Ellie.

In April 2010, Daw lost his mother Eleanor Daw at 63 years from a heart attack. According to Daw, her loss has had a profound change in him which his often referred to the reason behind his retirement from international sport.^[13]

In October 2014 after going to the doctor for what Daw thought was Kidney stones it was discovered he had renal cell carcinoma. The aggressive cancer caused Daw to under go surgery on December 29, 2014 having a Partial nephrectomy. Daw quickly recovered from the surgery healing in less than 4 weeks time. In June 2015; Daw had relocated to Victoria, British Columbia (wife's home town) making his return to BC after leaving for unknown reasons in 2010.^[14]

Awards

In 2010, Daw was inducted into the London Sports Hall of Fame on September 23, 2010 at a ceremony including Christine Nesbitt and Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir.^[15]

Daw's accomplishments included the following; one of the longest active Paralympic careers in history. During his athletic career he has attended over 125 National Championships, 64 World Championships, 4 Paralympics and 1 Olympics. For an estimated medal total over 1000+ for Canada including a dozen World Championships, 19 World records and Paralympic Gold medal performances. His sports include Canadian representation for Track, Basketball, Rugby, Volleyball, and Curling. He has also participated as an elite athlete in hockey,field, parachuting; rock climbing, badminton and holds high level black belts in Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu.^[16]

Results

Olympic Games
Finish	Event	Year	Place	Position	Team
Alternate	Wheelchair Adaptive Track	1984	United States Los Angeles	Alternate	Canada
Paralympic Games
Finish	Event	Year	Place	Position	Team
Gold	Wheelchair Curling[17]	2006	Italy Torino	Skip	Canada
4th	Wheelchair Rugby[17]	2000	Australia Sydney	Player #10	Canada
	Wheelchair Adaptive Track[17]	1988	South Korea Seoul	Participant	Canada
	Wheelchair Adaptive Track[17]	1984	United Kingdom Stoke Madeville	Participant	Canada
Para PanAM Games
Finish	Event	Year	Place	Position	Team
Bronze	Sit-Volleyball	2007	Brazil Rio	Player	Canada
World Wheelchair Curling Championship
Finish	Event	Year	Place	Position	Team
Silver	Wheelchair curling[18]	2002	Switzerland Sursee	Skip	Canada
Bronze	Wheelchair curling[18]	2004	Switzerland Sursee	Skip	Canada
6.	Wheelchair curling[18]	2005	Scotland Glasgow	Skip	Canada
4.	Wheelchair curling	2007	Sweden Sollefteå	Skip	Canada
Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship
Finish	Event	Year	Place	Position	Team
Gold	Wheelchair curling[19]	2003	Ontario Toronto	Skip	Canada
Gold	Wheelchair curling[19]	2005	British Columbia Richmond	Skip	Canada
Gold	Wheelchair curling[19]	2006	British Columbia Richmond	Skip	Canada
6th[20]	Wheelchair curling	2009	Nova Scotia Halifax	Skip	Newfoundland and Labrador
Provincial Wheelchair Curling Championship
Finish	Event	Year	Place	Position	Team
Bronze	Wheelchair curling[19]	2011	British Columbia Kimberley	2nd	Armstrong
First World Games for Disabled Youth (Nottingham, England)
Finish	Event	Year	Place	Result	Team
Gold	Wheelchair Adaptive Track [17]	1986	United Kingdom Nottingham	World Record	Canada
Gold	Wheelchair Adaptive Track [17]	1986	United Kingdom Nottingham	World Record	Canada
Gold	Wheelchair Adaptive Track [17]	1986	United Kingdom Nottingham	World Record	Canada
Gold	Wheelchair Adaptive Track [17]	1986	United Kingdom Nottingham	World Record	Canada
Gold	Wheelchair Adaptive Track [17]	1986	United Kingdom Nottingham	World Record	Canada
Gold	Wheelchair Adaptive Track [17]	1986	United Kingdom Nottingham	World Record	Canada
Awards and Recognition
Award	Awarded by;	Description	Place	Year	Country
Rick Hansan Relay[21]	Town of Strathroy	Medal Bearer	Ontario Strathroy, Ontario	2011	Canada
Hall of Fame[22]	City of London	London Sports Hall of Fame	Ontario London, Ontario	2010	Canada
King Clancy Award[23]	King Clancy Foundation	Outstanding Performance	Ontario	2007	Canada
High Performance Coach of the Year	Province of Ontario	Coach of the Year, Wheelchair Athletics	Ontario	2007	Canada
International Achievement Award	Government of Canada	Achievement Award	Canada	2006	Canada
World Achievement Award	Government of Canada	Achievement Award	Canada	2006	Canada
National Achievement Award	Government of Canada	Achievement Award	Canada	2006	Canada
Provincial Achievement Award	Province of Ontario	Achievement Award	Ontario	2006	Canada
International Achievement Award	Government of Canada	Achievement Award	Canada	2000	Canada
World Achievement Award	Government of Canada	Achievement Award	Canada	2000	Canada
Celebration 88 Medal	Government of Canada	Achievement Award	Canada	1988	Canada
International Achievement Award	Government of Canada	Achievement Award	Canada	1988	Canada
World Award	Government of Canada	Achievement Award	Canada	1988	Canada
National Achievement Award	Government of Canada	Achievement Award	Canada	1988	Canada
Provincial Achievement Award	Province of Ontario	Achievement Award	Ontario	1988	Canada
Provincial Achievement Award	Province of Ontario	Achievement Award	Ontario	1987	Canada
Provincial Achievement Award	Province of Ontario	Achievement Award	Ontario	1986	Canada

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Murderball	Athlete	Uncredited

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	CBC Sports - Sydney Paralympics Games Coverage	Athlete - Team Canada	Rugby Uncredited
2006	CBC Sports - Torino Paralympics Games Coverage	Athlete - Skip - Team Canada	Curling Uncredited
2010	CBC Sports - Vancouver Paralympics Games Coverage	Commentator	Sports Broadcaster Uncredited
2010	Olympic Broadcasting Services - Vancouver Paralympics Games Coverage	Commentator	Sports Broadcaster Uncredited
2014	CBC Sports - Sochi Paralympic Games Coverage	Commentator	Sports Broadcaster Uncredited

References

1. Vancouver 2010 "Paralympic Perspectives"
2. "2007 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships" (PDF). wheelchaircurling.com. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
4. Times Online
12. Team Canada – Wheelchair curling
14. "WCBLOG2.com".
17. Results for Daw from the International Paralympic Committee

External links

• Personal Website
• London Sports Hall of Fame Tribute Video