Matthew "Matt" Benedict Walker MBE (born 25 April 1978 in

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

, England) is a British swimmer who has participated in four

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 ...

, winning eleven medals. He competes in the S7 (

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

and freestyle), SM7 (

medley Medley or Medleys may refer to: Sports *Medley swimming, races requiring multiple swimming styles * Medley relay races at track meets Music *Medley (music), multiple pieces strung together People *Medley (surname), list of people with this nam ...

) and SB7 (

breaststroke Breaststroke is a human swimming, swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and ...

) classifications.

Career

Walker's first international medal came with a bronze in the 100 m breaststroke at the 1997 European Championships in Spain. Since then he has gone on to win four further European Championship medals and eight World Championship medals. He also won a bronze medal in the 50 m freestyle and finished fourth in the 100 m freestyle, at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, where he was the only disabled swimmer representing England.

Paralympics

Walker competed in the Paralympics for the first time during the 2000 games, in Sydney. In all he took home three medals from these games, a bronze in the 100 m breaststroke SB7, silver in the 50 m freestyle S7 and gold in the 4×100 m freestyle 34 pts. As part of the gold medal winning relay team, which also included

Jody Cundy Jody Alan Cundy (born 14 October 1978) is a British cyclist and former swimmer from Wisbech, England. He has represented Great Britain at eight Summer Paralympics winning nine Gold, one Silver and three Bronze medals across swimming and cycling ...

, Giles Long and David Roberts, he set a new

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

time of 4:06.85. In 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 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 ...

, Walker won a further two individual medals, silvers in both the 50 and 100 m S7 freestyle events. He was again part of the gold medal winning 4×100 m freestyle 34 pts relay team, which also included Roberts, Graham Edmunds and Robert Welbourn, that set a new world record of 3:59.62.

Beijing 2008 The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

was Walker's third appearance at a Paralympics, and his most successful to date with five medals won. He medalled in both the 50 and 100 m S7 freestyle events, as he had done in Athens, and picked up medals in butterfly and medley events for the first time, winning silver in the 50 m S7 butterfly, with a European record time of 32.24 seconds, and bronze in the 200 m individual medley SM7. Competing alongside David Roberts, Robert Welbourn and Graham Edmunds, Walker won a gold medal in the 4×100 m freestyle 34 pts for the third time in as many Games. This meant that he has now won eleven Paralympic medals, with all of his silver and bronze medals being won individually and all three of his golds being in relay events. Walker was appointed

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 ...

(MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours for services to disabled sport. In the

2012 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 ...

, within the S7 category, Walker participated in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 50m butterfly, winning bronze in the former category.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Matt 1978 births Living people English male medley swimmers British male medley swimmers Paralympic swimmers for Great Britain Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Paralympic medalists in swimming Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in swimming Swimmers at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Medalists at the World Para Swimming European Championships Members of the Order of the British Empire World record holders in paralympic swimming S7-classified para swimmers Team Bath swimmers Team Bath Paralympic athletes Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games English male butterfly swimmers British male butterfly swimmers English male freestyle swimmers British male freestyle swimmers English male breaststroke swimmers British male breaststroke swimmers Sportspeople from Stockport

Career

Paralympics

See also

References

External links