Isabel Newstead, (''née'' Barr; 3 May 1955 – 18 January 2007) was a British

paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

athlete who competed at seven consecutive

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...

from 1980 to 2004. Overall, Newstead won ten gold, four silver and four bronze medals in three different sports. She was inducted into the

Scottish Sports Hall of Fame The Scottish Sports Hall of Fame is the national sports hall of fame of Scotland, set up in 2002. It is a joint project organised by sportscotland, the national governmental body for Scottish sport, and National Museums Scotland. It is also funded ...

in 2008.

Career

Isabel Barr was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland. At the age of nineteen her spinal cord was damaged by a flu virus, which would eventually lead to

tetraplegia Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weakness or paralysis leading to partial ...

, partial or complete paralysis of all four limbs. Newstead had already competed at regional level before her illness and as part of her rehabilitation continued swimming. Whilst swimming with the Port Glasgow Otters Swimming Club she was noticed by the British paraplegic swimming team. Newstead moved to

Harlow Harlow is a town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a Planned community, new town in 1947, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire, and occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the ...

, Essex in the late seventies to work as a systems analyst with Rank Hovis McDougall. At her first

1980 Summer Paralympics The 1980 Summer Paralympics (), branded as the Olympics for the Disabled, were the sixth Summer Paralympic Games. They were held in Arnhem, Netherlands, from 21 to 30 June 1980. Background The Soviet Union, hosts of the 1980 Summer Olympics, wer ...

Arnhem Arnhem ( ; ; Central Dutch dialects, Ernems: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capita ...

, Newstead won three gold medals in the

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

pool. At the

1984 Summer Paralympics The 1984 International Games for the Disabled, commonly known as the 1984 Summer Paralympics, were the seventh Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes w ...

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 ...

she won three golds and a silver medal in the

pool Pool may refer to: Bodies of water * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a roc ...

. Most notably, Newstead also won a gold in the air pistol shooting event as well as silver medals in the shot put and discus events. Newstead did not compete in the swimming events at the

1988 Summer Paralympics The 1988 Summer Paralympics () were the first Paralympics in 24 years to take place in the same city as the 1988 Summer Olympics, Olympic Games. They took place in Seoul, South Korea. This was the first time the term "Paralympic" was used officia ...

Seoul 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 ...

due to health challenges. However, she did win a silver medal in the

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

and two bronzes in the

air pistol An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

and javelin events. She married John Newstead after the Seoul games, having previously competed as Isabel Barr. Newstead competed at the

1992 Summer Paralympics The 1992 Summer Paralympics (; ) were the ninth Paralympic Games to be held. They were held in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. In addition, the 1992 Paralympic Games for Persons with mental handicap were held immediately after the regular Paralymp ...

in Barcelona and the

1996 Summer Paralympics The 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, were held from August 16 to 25. It was the first Paralympics to get mass media sponsorship, and had a budget of USD $81 million. It was the first Paralympic Games where Internatio ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, though she did not win any medals. In Barcelona, an error by her coach led to her missing the final of one event, when she was in the lead after the preliminary rounds. In Atlanta, on the eve of the opening ceremony, Newstead fell from her wheelchair and required surgery on a broken hip. Undeterred, she completed her event but finished outside the medals. At the

2000 Summer 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 the last time that the Summer Paralympics were organized by two different Organ ...

in Sydney, Newstead won Gold in the air pistol SH1 category. She defended her title four years later at the

2004 Summer Paralympics The 2004 Summer Paralympics (), the 12th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Athens, Greece, from 17 to 28 September ...

in Athens, setting a world-record score. In The New Year Honours 2001 Newstead was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

for ''services to Disabled Sport''. In 2006 Newstead was diagnosed with cancer and died in January 2007. She was in the process of training to defend her shooting title in Beijing and learning

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

Awards

Inducted into Scottish Women in Sport Hall of Fame in 2018.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Newstead, Isabel 1955 births 2007 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Paralympics British female sport shooters Medalists at the 1980 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Paralympic shooters for Great Britain Paralympic athletes for Great Britain Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Paralympic swimmers for Great Britain Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain Paralympic medalists in shooting Scottish female sport shooters Scottish female freestyle swimmers British female freestyle swimmers Swimmers at the 1980 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Shooters at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Shooters at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Shooters at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Shooters at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Paralympic medalists in swimming People with tetraplegia Swimmers from Glasgow British wheelchair users Scottish female javelin throwers Scottish female shot putters British female shot putters Scottish female discus throwers British female discus throwers British female javelin throwers Scottish female butterfly swimmers British female butterfly swimmers Scottish female backstroke swimmers British female backstroke swimmers Scottish female breaststroke swimmers British female breaststroke swimmers 20th-century Scottish sportswomen

Career

Awards

See also

References

External links