Geoffrey Douglas Trappett, OAM (born 18 September 1979) is an Australian Paralympic athlete who won three medals over two Paralympics.

Early life

Trappett was born in Brisbane on 18 September 1979 with spina bifida. He grew up in the Brisbane suburb of

Albany Creek Albany Creek is a southern suburb in the Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Albany Creek had a population of 15,769 people. Geography Albany Creek is located approximately 17 kilometres north-west of the Brisbane central busi ...

and attended the Queensland Academy of Sport.

Sporting career

In 1999, Trappett won two gold medals and broke two national records in the Men's 100 m and 200 m events, at the National Championships in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

and the Metro Challenge in Toronto, respectively. At the

2000 Sydney Paralympics The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was last time that the Summer Paralympics which were organized by two different ...

, he won a gold medal in the Men's 100 m T54 event, for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia, and a silver medal in the Men's 4x100 m T54 event. He was coached by Brett Jones in the twelve months before the 2000 Paralympics. In 2003 at an event in

, he set a world record in the 100 m sprint; however he disqualified himself because he had made a false start that no one else had noticed. Two weeks later he ran the same event in the Gold Coast in a world-record time of 13.99 seconds. At the

2004 Athens Paralympics ) , nations = 136 , athletes = 3,806 , events = 519 in 19 sports , opening = 17 September , closing = 28 September , opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos , cauldron = Georgios Toptsis , stadium = Olympic ...

, he won a silver medal in the Men's 4x100 m T53–54 event. In 2009, he was one of the first 150 people to be added to the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.

Post Sporting Career

In 2009 he became the Senior Engagement and Services Delivery Officer with the Cerebral Palsy League Queensland. Trappett is an advocate for those with a disability. He founded Inclusion Moves which is involved in facilitating, awareness campaigns, advocacy and training in the disability area. He is married to Masako.

References

External links

Athletics Australia Results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trappett, Geoff Paralympic athletes for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Australian male wheelchair racers Athletes from Brisbane Sportsmen from Queensland People with spina bifida Australian disability rights activists 1979 births Living people Australian activists with disabilities