Joseph Stephen Egan (born 31 October 1953) is an Australian athlete and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player, who has won five medals at four Paralympics from 1980 to 2000.

Personal

Egan was born on 31 October 1953. He was a keen sportsman during his youth, competing in sprinting, hurdling, and both

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

, the latter for South Sydney. His right leg was amputated below the knee after a 1971 motorcycle accident. In 1999 he founded Dynamicaxtion (later named ProsMedix), a company based on the

New South Wales Central Coast The Central Coast is a peri-urban region lying on the Pacific Ocean in eastern New South Wales, Australia. The region is situated north of Sydney, and is filled with subtropical national parks, forests and also encompasses the major coastal wa ...

that makes prosthetic limbs. He has a patent for a "Method of construction of moulded products" with Wong Cheng-Hing.

Career

Egan was the captain of the Australian team at the

1980 Arnhem 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 ...

, where he won two bronze medals in the Men's 100 m C and Men's 400 m C events. At the 1984 New York Games, he won a gold medal in the men's 4×100 m relay A4–9 event, a silver medal in the men's 4×400 m relay A4–9 event, and a bronze medal in the Men's 100 m A4 event. In 1984 he became the first person to remove the flesh-coloured covering from his prosthetic leg to improve its performance in competition. He competed in athletics at the 1988 Seoul Paralympics, after which he retired from competition. In a 2000 interview, he said: "That was it. Finished. I'd had enough. ``I had a young family, and then there were the costs of travelling. You had to pay your way everywhere." Inspired by the prospect of the upcoming 2000 Sydney Paralympics, he began training again in 1996. However, he could no longer compete at an elite level in athletics, so he started playing

, initially in sitting volleyball. He then recruited and participated in Australia's Paralympic standing volleyball team for the 2000 games.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Egan, Joe 1953 births Living people Paralympic athletes for Australia Paralympic volleyball players for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Volleyball players at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1980 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Amputee-category Paralympic competitors Australian amputees Athletes from Sydney Australian male sprinters Sportsmen from New South Wales 20th-century Australian sportsmen