Jannik Blair (born 3 February 1992) is a 1 point wheelchair basketball player who has played for the University of Missouri and the National Wheelchair Basketball League Dandenong Rangers. He is a member of the

Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team The Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team is the men's wheelchair basketball side that represents Australia in international competitions. The team is known as the Rollers. Australia took the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Paralymp ...

, making his debut in 2009, and was member of the Australian team that won the silver 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 wheelchair basketball. He was a member of the Rollers 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 ...

, his fourth Games.

Early life

010912 - Jannik Blair - 3b - 2012 Summer Paralympics

Blair was born on 3 February 1992 in

Horsham, Victoria Horsham () is a regional city in the Wimmera region of western Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Located on a bend in the Wimmera River, Horsham is approximately northwest of the state capital Melbourne. As of the 2021 census, Horsham ...

. In 2004 at the age of the twelve, he broke his back, wrist and suffered a collapsed lung after an accident on a utility vehicle. He went into a coma for a week. he lives in

Horsham Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. By 2005, he was playing a variety of sports including wheelchair basketball, track racing and hand-cycling. , he attended the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

on partial scholarship for wheelchair basketball, but was taking time off to concentrate on basketball.

Wheelchair basketball

Blair is a 1 point wheelchair basketball player. , he has a scholarship with the

Victorian Institute of Sport The Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) is the government-funded sporting institute of the Australian state of Victoria. It provides high performance sports programs for talented athletes, enabling them to achieve national and international succ ...

. Blair first played wheelchair basketball in 2005, and attended a

Ballarat, Victoria Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Australian census, 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australi ...

hosted APC Paralympic Talent Search in 2006. At the event, they encouraged him to continue in the sport. Blair played in the National Wheelchair Basketball League (NWBL) in 2009, finishing the season by being named to the All-Star 5. , he plays for the Dandenong Rangers in the NWBL, and joined for and was playing for

team in the United States

National Wheelchair Basketball Association National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) is composed of 181 wheelchair basketball teams within twenty-two conferences. Founded in 1949 by Timothy Nugent, the NWBA today consists of men's, women's, intercollegiate, and youth teams throug ...

(NWBA) as of 2012. In late 2012, Blair was presented with offers several offers from American universities, including the University of Missouri, Columbia, and the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. After much consideration, Blair chose to take up a scholarship from the University of Alabama. He will dress for them in the Spring season of 2013. Blair made his

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

debut in 2009 at the Asia Oceania Wheelchair Basketball Championships where he averaged 0.3 points per game. Later that year, he competed in the Rollers World Challenge, and the IWBF U23 World Championship where his team finished fourth. At the 2011 Wheelchair Tri Series where he played in games against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, he averaged 0.8 points per game. In August of that year, he also competed in the International Tournament of Champions. In October 2011, he participated in a national team training camp in Canberra. He was selected to represent

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

at the

in wheelchair basketball. The Games were his first. Going into the London Paralympics, his team was ranked number one in the world. He had to earn his spot as fourteen men had been vying for spots on the team. At the

he was part of the Australian men's wheelchair team that won silver. He was a member of the Rollers team that won the gold medal at the

2014 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship Separate men's and women's Wheelchair Basketball World Championship tournaments were held in 2014. The women's tournament was held at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Canada between 20 and 28 June 2014. It was the largest women's ...

s. In 2016, he was selected for 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 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, where his team, the Rollers, finished sixth. In 2018, he was a member of the Rollers that won the bronze medal at

2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship The 2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship was held at the Edel-optics.de Arena in Hamburg, Germany, from 16 to 26 August 2018. Both men's and women's tournaments were held, with 12 women's and 16 men's teams competing, representing 19 di ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. At the

2020 Tokyo 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 ...

, the Rollers finished fifth with a win–loss record of 4–4. At the 2024 Paris Paralympics, he was a member of the Rollers that finished fifth with a win/loss record of 3-3.

References

External links

* *
Basketball Australia Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, Jannik Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic wheelchair basketball players for Australia Wheelchair basketball players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 2024 Summer Paralympics 1992 births Living people Victorian Institute of Sport alumni Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics People from Horsham, Victoria Paralympic medalists in wheelchair basketball