Christopher Alexander Hallam, MBE (31 December 1962 – 16 August 2013) was a Welsh Paralympian and wheelchair athlete. He competed at four Paralympic Games;

Stoke Mandeville Stoke Mandeville is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located three miles (5 km) from Aylesbury and 3.4 miles (5.5 km) from the market town of Wendover. Although a separate civil ...

, England (1984),

Seoul, South Korea Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

(1988),

Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a pop ...

(1992) and

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(1996), as well as two Commonwealth Games;

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(1990) and

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(1994).

Personal history

Born in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, Hallam was raised in

Cwmbran Cwmbran ( ; , also in use as an alternative spelling in English) is a town in the county borough of Torfaen in South Wales. Lying within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire, Cwmbran was ...

, South Wales. He attended Llantarnam School, where he became a competitive swimmer, with aspirations of competing for Wales. A motorcycle accident at age 17 (en route to a training session) resulted in him becoming a wheelchair user. After rehabilitation he spent some time living and travelling in South Africa, before returning to the UK and becoming involved in wheelchair sport. He later studied for his undergraduate and MBA degrees at the

University of Wales Institute, Cardiff Cardiff Metropolitan University () is a public university located in Cardiff, Wales. Formerly known as the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC; , ) which was established in 1996. The university offers degree courses in a variety of d ...

. In 2002 he became a Winston Churchill Fellow writing his report on the access of disabled people to specialist training equipment and gyms. In his latter years, he had ill health. He received a successful kidney transplant in 1996 (with a living donation from his father), but was diagnosed with

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...

in 2011 and received chemotherapy treatment. He died on 16 August 2013, aged 50, and was survived by his parents (John and Anne) and a sister (Julie). Hallam was the subject of episode 1 of the 2019 BBC series ''Mavericks: Sport's Lost Heroes''.

Sporting career

In 1984 he won a gold medal for the 50m breast stroke, but it was on the track and road where he had the biggest impact. He won a bronze medal in the 400m in Seoul, and repeated this in the 100m in Barcelona. During his career he held world records in the 100m and 200m. He twice pushed his way around Wales (in 1987, 1997) with his training partner and fellow Paralympian John Harris, to raise money for a purpose-built wheelchair-accessible training centre at Cyncoed,

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

. He won the London marathon twice, and broke the course record both times, in 1985 and 1987. (1985: 2.19.53, and 1987: 2.08.34) He won the Great North Run on four occasions (1986, 1987, 1989 and 1990). He competed at two Commonwealth Games, in New Zealand (1990), and in Victoria, British Columbia (1994), respectively, as well as World and European Championships. Chris took the bronze medal at the 100m wheelchair race during the 1992 paralympics in Barcelona As an administrator he organised several National events, and was Chairman of the British Wheelchair Racing Association from 1990 to 1992. In his coaching career he worked with several successful British athletes including

Rose Hill Rose Hill may refer to: People * Rose Hill (actress) (1914–2003), British actress * Rose Hill (athlete) (born 1956), British wheelchair athlete Film * ''Rose Hill'' (film), a 1997 movie Places Australia * Rose Hill, New South Wales * Rose ...

, the British Record Holder for the marathon, and Dan Lucker who became world junior champion.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hallam, Chris 1962 births 2013 deaths British male breaststroke swimmers Welsh male breaststroke swimmers Welsh male wheelchair racers Welsh Paralympic competitors Paralympic wheelchair racers Paralympic swimmers for Great Britain Paralympic athletes for Great Britain Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Paralympic medalists in swimming Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Swimmers at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Commonwealth Games competitors for Wales Athletes (track and field) at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Deaths from lymphoma in the United Kingdom Alumni of Cardiff Metropolitan University Members of the Order of the British Empire Sportspeople from Cwmbran Place of death missing People with paraplegia Welsh sports coaches Welsh sports executives and administrators