Michael David Bushell MBE (born 8 June 1990) is a

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...

gold medalist and personal trainer from

Telford Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in the same direction. With an estim ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

, England. He has lumbar sacral spinal agenesis congenital paraplegia and competes in T53 category sprint events. He is the British record holder at 100m and 200, and a European record holder at 100m.

Early life

Bushell was born on 8 June 1990 at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. Due to his health problems doctors initially told his parents that he would probably never be able sit up or mobilise on his own but Bushell surprised everyone when he started crawling around and eventually walking on his hands in a handstand position.

Athletic career

Bushell competed in the

2008 Summer Paralympics 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 wa ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China winning silver in the men's T53100 metres – T53 event. He also competed in the 200m event, but was knocked out in the first round. On 19 June 2009, Bushell set a new 100 m T53 world record in Ibach, Switzerland, beating the old record by three one-hundredths of a second. On 3 September, in the London 2012 Paralympics, he won a gold medal for Great Britain in the T53 100m in a time of 14.75 seconds, just shy of the World Record time of 14.47 seconds. He added further silverware to his collection in 2014 at the IPC Athletics European Championships in Swansea, where he claimed gold in the T53 100m. He picked up a silver medal in the 200m in wet and windy conditions, but was just edged out of the medals in the 800m behind his teammate,

Moatez Jomni Moatez 'Mo' Jomni (born 19 February 1989) is a British Paralympic athlete who competes mainly in category T53 sprint events and middle-distance events. Early life Jomni was born in Tunisia in 1989. At the age of four Jomni was hit and run o ...

. After struggling with illness in 2015, Bushell made an encouraging return to action in 2016 by winning the European title in the T53 100m in Grosseto, as well as a 400m bronze. Later that year he competed in the 2016 Paralympic games in Rio defending his 100m, although was only able to manage a disappointing sixth-place finish crossing the line in 15.09s. Bushell is the current British Record holder for the T53 class in the 100m and 200m events, and also the European record holder at 100m.

Health issues

Bushell has lumbar sacral spinal sgenesis congenital paraplegia. In Bushell's case this means he is missing seven vertebrae from the lower part of the spine just above the

coccyx The coccyx ( : coccyges or coccyxes), commonly referred to as the tailbone, is the final segment of the vertebral column in all apes, and analogous structures in certain other mammals such as horses. In tailless primates (e.g. humans and oth ...

. He has no abdominal wall muscle control, his legs and hips have never fully developed and float unsupported at the lower end of his body. In 2007, during his preparations for the Paralympic games in Beijing, Bushell began having recurrent kidney infection necessitating a

nephrectomy A nephrectomy is the surgical removal of a kidney, performed to treat a number of kidney diseases including kidney cancer. It is also done to remove a normal healthy kidney from a living or deceased donor, which is part of a kidney transplant pro ...

. Despite this potentially career ending condition just three months after the operation he recorded a personal best in the 100m to qualify for the Beijing Paralympics, where he won a silver in the T53. Shoulder and elbow injuries in 2013 and 2014 further threatened his career, but despite this he still managed to claim silver at the IPC World Championships in Lyon and two medals at the IPC European Championships in Swansea. Recurrent urinary tract infections in 2015 culminated in life-threatening

septicaemia Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

. At the time this was incorrectly reported by the BBC as a

chlamydia Chlamydia, or more specifically a chlamydia infection, is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium '' Chlamydia trachomatis''. Most people who are infected have no symptoms. When symptoms do appear they may occur only several w ...

infection. He subsequently made a complete recovery, although his training was significantly set back the seven month recuperation period.

Awards and honors

After winning gold in London 2012 Bushell was honored with a golden postbox in his home town of Telford. He 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 contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(MBE) in the

2013 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2013 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to athletics.

Personal life

Bushell lives in Telford where he works as a body language coach.

References

External links

*
Mickey Bushells home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bushell, Mickey Paralympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain British male sprinters Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Members of the Order of the British Empire 1990 births World record holders in Paralympic athletics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics People with caudal regression syndrome People from Telford Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field)