Jonathon Milne is an Australian Paralympic

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern ...

. In April 2015 he won the National Para Championships, held in Melbourne. He represented Australia at the

2016 Rio Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 Sept ...

where he won a bronze medal. Milne won a bronze medal at the 2023 World Para Archery Championships. He competed at 2024 Paris Paralympics - his third Paralympics.

Personal

Jonathon Milne was born on 25 January 1986. On 23 December 2012, while swimming with his wife Sarah at

Avoca Beach Avoca Beach () is a coastal suburb of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney. Avoca Beach is primarily a residential suburb, Avoca Beach is also a popular tourist destination. Avoca Beach is known for its ...

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 ...

, Milne broke his neck diving into the ocean, leaving him paralysed from the chest down. Sarah dragged him to shore. He was taken to

Royal North Shore Hospital The Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) is a major public teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located in the suburb of St Leonards. It serves as a teaching hospital for Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney, University of Technol ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. He spent the next five and a half months there and the Royal Rehabilitation Hospital in

Ryde Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 24,096 according to the 2021 Census. Its growth as a seaside resort came after the villages of Upper Ryde and ...

. He completed a Certificate III in carpentry at

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE () is the common name in Australia for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses. Colloquially also known ...

in 2012, but now works full-time at the Abbey Archery store in

Castle Hill, New South Wales Castle Hill is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, located 34 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district and 9.5 kilometres north of Parramatta. It is within the Hills District, New South Wales, Hills District regi ...

Archery

Milne took up archery, a sport which he had tried as a teenager, as it allowed him to keep his mind off his injuries and could be easily performed in a chair. After his accident he tried wheel-chair tennis but did not enjoy it. He would travel from Ryde to the archery range at

Sydney Olympic Park Sydney Olympic Park is a suburb of Greater Western Sydney, located 13 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the City of Parramatta, City of Parramatta Council. It i ...

. Milne competes in the Compound Bow division. Within the division he is classified as an

ARW2 ARW2 is a Paralympic archery classification. It is a sitting class. This class includes Les Autres sportspeople. People from this class compete in the sport at the Paralympic Games, with an early version appearing at the 1988 World Championship ...

athlete, for archers who are impaired in the legs. In 2015, Milne competed at the National Championships held in

Morwell, Victoria Morwell is a town in the Latrobe Valley area of Gippsland, in South-Eastern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia approximately 152 km (94 mi) east of Melbourne. Morwell has a population of 14,389 people at the . It is both the ...

, placing eighth in target and twelfth in short-distance events against able-bodied athletes, and won the National Para championship. He was selected to compete for Australia at the 2015 Para World Championships in

Donaueschingen Donaueschingen (; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Eschinge'') is a German town in the Black Forest in the southwest of the States of Germany, federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the Schwarzwald-Baar ''Districts of Germany, Kreis''. It ...

in Germany, where if he placed within the top 19 he would qualify for the

. He placed an impressive fourth, losing the bronze medal final to Great Britain's

John Stubbs John Stubbs (or Stubbe) (c. 1544 – after 25 September 1589) was an English Puritan, pamphleteer, political commentator and sketch artist during the Elizabethan era, whose right hand was cut off on 3 November 1579 following a conviction for "s ...

. , he is ranked number 40 in the world in the men's open compound classification, and is coached by Ricci Cheah. On 29 July 2016, the

Australian Paralympic Committee Paralympics Australia (PA) previously called the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) (1998–2019) is the National Paralympic Committee in Australia for the Paralympic Games movement. It oversees the preparation and management of Australian tea ...

announced his selection for Rio. He was the first Australian to qualify in Paralympic archery since 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 ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, and Australia had not previously won a medal in the sport at the Paralympic Games since 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 ...

. At the

, he won the bronze medal in the Men's Individual Compound - Open. He became Australia's first archery medallist since 1984 when

Ian Trewhella Ian Anthony Trewhella, AM (20 May 1945 – 29 November 2024) was an Australian Paralympic medallist in athletics and archery, who won four medals at two Paralaympics. Background In 1961, Trewhella became a quadriplegic due to an illness. He w ...

won two silver medals. He was seeded ninth in the competition and defeated the top seed Bulent Korkmaz in the quarter-final in a match that went down to the final arrow. 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 ...

, he lost in the Round of 16 to Andre Shelby of the USA in the Men's individual compound open after qualifying eighth. Milne teamed with Garry Robinson to win the silver medal in the Men's Team Compound at the 2022 World Para Archery Championships. He won the bronze medal in the Men's Individual Compound Open at the 2023 World Para Archery Championships. At the 2024 Paris Paralympics, he lost in the Round of 16 in the Men's individual compound open after qualifying tenth. He partnered with

Ameera Lee Ameera Lee (born 1 February 1974) is an Australian Paralympic archer. She competed at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Personal Lee was born on 1 February 1974. She has multiple sclerosis. She is a single mother with a son – Huthaifa. She is a me ...

, in the Mixed team compound where they lost in the quarter-final. In 2024, he is a

New South Wales Institute of Sport The New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) is a high-performance-sports training institute in New South Wales, Australia. The New South Wales government agency provides coaching, performance support, and daily training environments to help t ...

scholarship athlete.

References

External links

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Archery Australia Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Milne, Jonathon Living people Archers from Sydney Paralympic archers for Australia Archers at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Archers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Archers at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Paralympic wheelchair archers 1986 births Australian male archers Paralympic medalists in archery Sportsmen from New South Wales 21st-century Australian sportsmen