Brian Siemann (born October 7, 1989) is an American T53 wheelchair racer.

Early life and education

Siemann was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, and raised in Millstone, New Jersey. He attended Notre Dame High School in

Lawrenceville, New Jersey Lawrenceville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) within Lawrence Township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

. He then attended the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

and majored in special education. He currently serves as a learning disabilities and ADHD specialist at his alma mater.

Career

Siemann made his international debut for the United States at the

2011 IPC Athletics World Championships The 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships was held in Christchurch, New Zealand from January 21 to 30, 2011. Athletes with disabilities competed, and the Championships were a qualifying event for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Over 1,000 ath ...

. He represented the United States at the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Sum ...

. He again represented the United States at the

2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, f ...

, and finished in fourth place in the 800 metres T53 event, with a time of 1:41.11, two-one hundredths of a second behind bronze medalist

Brent Lakatos Brent Lakatos (born June 1, 1980) is a Canadian wheelchair racer in the T53 classification. Lakatos has represented Canada at six Summer Paralympics, and at the 2012 Games he won three silver medals in the sprint and mid-distance events. In 2013 ...

. In November 2016, Siemann competed in the 2016 New York City Marathon, along with his siblings. They became the first quadruplets to compete together in the

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon, currently branded as the TCS New York City Marathon for sponsorship reasons, is an annual marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 fini ...

. He represented the United States at the

2017 World Para Athletics Championships The 2017 World Para Athletics Championships were a Paralympic athletics, Paralympic track and field meet organized by World Para Athletics, a subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. It was held at London Stadium in London from 14 ...

in the 100 metres T53 event. He again represented the United States at the

2019 World Para Athletics Championships The 2019 World Para Athletics Championships was a Paralympic athletics, Paralympic track and field event organised by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. It was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from ...

and finished in fourth place in the 800 metres T53 event with a time of 1:41.63. On June 24, 2021, he was named to Team USA's roster for the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the Inte ...

. He competed in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

800 metres The 800 metres, or 800 meters (American and British English spelling differences#-re.2C -er, US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of a ...

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

and men's marathon. Siemann represented the United States at the

2023 World Para Athletics Championships The 2023 World Para Athletics Championships was a Paralympic track and field meet organized by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. It was the 10th edition of the event and was held in the Charlety St ...

and won bronze medals in the 400 metres T53 and 800 metres T53 events. He also participated in the 100 metres T53 event, and finished in fourth place with a time of 15.05. In July 2024, during the U.S. Paralympic team trials, he

qualified Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

to represent the United States at the

2024 Summer Paralympics The 2024 Summer Paralympics (), also known as the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games (), and branded as Paris 2024, were the 17th Summer Paralympic Games, an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event governed by the International P ...

, winning bronze in the men's T53 400m.

Personal life

Siemann was born to John and Teresa Siemann. He has an older brother, John, and is a quadruplet with three sisters Amanda, Maria, and Jessica. The quadruplets were born two months premature. At six days old, a doctor left Siemann's umbilical catheter open, which caused him to lose a third of the blood, resulting in

spinal shock Spinal shock was first explored by Robert Whytt in 1750 as a loss of sensation accompanied by motor paralysis with initial loss but gradual recovery of reflexes, following a spinal cord injury (SCI) – most often a complete transection. Reflexes ...

and paralyzed him from the waist down. Siemann is

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

References

External links

* *
Brian Siemann
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Paralympics The 2024 Summer Paralympics (), also known as the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games (), and branded as Paris 2024, were the 17th Summer Paralympic Games, an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event governed by the International P ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Siemann, Brian 1989 births Living people American male wheelchair racers Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Paralympic bronze medalists for the United States Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Paralympic wheelchair racers Paralympic track and field athletes for the United States Medalists at the World Para Athletics Championships Sportspeople from Champaign, Illinois University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni 21st-century American sportsmen