James Brown (born 8 October 1964) is a former

Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...

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 ...

-cyclist, who competed for Great Britain, Ireland, and Northern Ireland. He is visually impaired and participated in five

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 ...

in various sports. Brown earned two gold medals 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 ...

in athletics and a bronze medal 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 ...

in the men's road time trial with sighted pilot

Damien Shaw Damien Shaw (born 10 July 1984) is a retired Irish road racing cyclist who rode professionally for and . He was the 2015 Irish National Road Race Champion and won a stage on the UCI Europe Tour at the 2017 Tour du Loir et Cher. Career Shaw ...

Paralympic career

Brown is visually impaired from birth and began cycling at the age of five and running at the age of 13 while attending the

Royal National College for the Blind Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Ro ...

. Following instruction in skiing, he joined the British Paralympic Team for the 1982 Disabled Alpine World Championships. He later worked at the Royal National College for the Blind as a volunteer guide runner, including at the World Youth Games for the Disabled. At the

in New York City, Brown won two gold medals in athletics for Great Britain in the 800-metre and 1500-metre. He later participated in several other editions of the Summer and Winter Paralympics in other events, including

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...

and the

biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not ti ...

. Brown planned to enter the

2008 Paralympic Games The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China, from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

as a cyclist, but missed the games because of an injury. The following year, he joined the Irish team and began his partnership with sighted pilot

in 2011. At the

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

, Brown and Shaw won a bronze medal in the men's road time trial B. The pair had also finished fourth in the men's individual pursuit B and ninth in the men's 1 km time trial B. He later represented Northern Ireland at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

, partnering with Dave Readle in the men's tandem sprint B and men's tandem time trial B, finishing fifth in both events. Brown was banned from competition from 2016 to 2018 by

Sport Ireland Sport Ireland (), formerly the Irish Sports Council, is a statutory authority that oversees, and partly funds, the development of sport within Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located at the National Sports Campus in the townland of Sheephill ...

and

Cycling Ireland Cycling Ireland or CI is the operating name of the national governing body of the sport of cycling in the island of Ireland. Formally the body is a charitable company limited by guarantee, the Irish Cycling Federation. CI is a member of the U ...

for violating anti-doping rules, to which he admitted.

Personal life

Brown retired from sport in 2015 and joined Mobiloo, a social enterprise that aims to provide portable

toilet A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human waste (urine and feces) and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting p ...

s that are accessible for the disabled. He has since participated in several

Extinction Rebellion Extinction Rebellion (abbreviated as XR) is a UK-founded global environmental movement, with the stated aim of using nonviolent civil disobedience to compel government action to avoid tipping points in the climate system, biodiversity loss, and ...

protests and has been arrested several times for non-violent civil disobedience; he has cited his daughter for inspiring his climate change activism. On 10 October 2019, he climbed on the fuselage of a

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

plane at

London City Airport London City Airport is an international airport in London, England. It is located in the Royal Docks in the London Borough of Newham, Borough of Newham, about east of the City of London and east of Canary Wharf. These are the two centres ...

as part of Extinction Rebellion's takeover of the airport. At a subsequent court hearing, he denied the charge of causing a

public nuisance In English criminal law, public nuisance is an act, condition or thing that is illegal because it interferes with the rights of the general public. In Australia In ''Kent v Johnson'', the Supreme Court of the ACT held that public nuisance is ...

and was granted conditional bail by a district judge that barred him from being within of an airport. On 28 July 2021, following a trial at

Southwark Crown Court The Crown Court at Southwark, usually referred to as Southwark Crown Court, is a Crown Court venue at 1 English Grounds (off Battlebridge Lane) on the south bank of the River Thames between London Bridge and Tower Bridge in London. It operates ...

, Brown was convicted of causing a public nuisance. Presiding judge Gregory Perrins set a sentencing hearing for 17 September. On 24 September 2021, he was given a prison term of one year. In February 2022, Brown was found guilty of aggravated trespass after he climbed on top of a

High Speed 2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a high-speed railway which has been under construction in England since 2019. The line's planned route is between Handsacre – in southern Staffordshire – and London, with a Spur line, branch to Birmingham. HS2 is to ...

drilling rig in February 2020.

References

External links

*
James Brown
at

Paralympics Ireland Paralympics Ireland (formerly known as the Paralympic Council of Ireland) is the National Paralympic Committee in Ireland for the Paralympic Games movement. It is a non-profit organisation that selects teams, and raises funds to send Irish compet ...

(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, James Irish male cyclists 1964 births Living people Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic bronze medalists for Ireland Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic cyclists for Ireland Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in cycling Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Sportspeople convicted of crimes Extinction Rebellion Environmentalists from Northern Ireland Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales 20th-century Irish sportsmen