Nazim Erdem, (born 1 August 1970) is an Australian wheelchair rugby Paralympic gold and silver medalist. He has won two gold and two silver medals at five Paralympics from 2000 to 2016.

Personal

Nazim Erdem was born on 1 August 1970 in the Turkish city of

Kayseri Kayseri (; el, Καισάρεια) is a large Industrialisation, industrialised List of cities in Turkey, city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri Province, Kayseri province. The Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality area is comp ...

and later immigrated to Australia with his family. He became a quadriplegic at the age of 20 after diving off a pier into shallow water in an effort to impress some watching girls. As a youngster, he practiced holding his breath and could hold it for up to three minutes. His ability to hold his breath for a long period of time saved his life as he was under water for two-and-a-half minutes before he was rescued. He played

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

and was an amateur boxer before the accident. In 2002 he became the first person with a spinal cord injury to

paraglide Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or lies supine in a cocoon-like 'po ...

solo; he was also the first person with a spinal cord injury to compete in the Targa Tasmania car rally. He lives in the Melbourne suburb of

Roxburgh Park Roxburgh Park is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Hume Local government areas of Victoria, local government area ...

, has a diploma in computer programming, and works as a peer support coordinator for the Australian Quadriplegic Association, a Victorian disability support organisation. Erdem is also a sports ambassador for the TAFISA World Sport for All Games.

Wheelchair rugby

090912 - Nazim Erdem - 3b - 2012 Summer Paralympics

Classified as a 0.5-point player, Erdem began playing wheelchair rugby in 1992. He first played for the Victorian wheelchair rugby team in 1994, and first played for the national team, the

Australian Steelers Wheelchair rugby is a sport with national representation at the Paralympic games. The Australian Team is known as the 'Steelers'. Australia has competed at every Paralympics Games since the sport gained full Paralympic Medal status at the 200 ...

, in the 1998 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships. He was part of the national team at the 2000 Sydney,

2004 Athens The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

2008 Beijing The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

, and

2012 London The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Paralympics, winning a silver medal with them at the 2000 and 2008 games and a gold medal in 2012. At the World Wheelchair Rugby Championships, he was a member of Steelers teams that won bronze in 2002, silver in 2010 and gold in 2014. He was a member of the team that retained its gold medal at the

2016 Rio Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

after defeating the United States 59–58 in the final. Erdem announced his retirement in December 2017 after playing 312 games over two decades for the Steelers. He indicated that he would spend more time with his family and his growing role at the Australian Quadriplegic Association.

Recognition

In June 2012, Erdem was named the ''Hume Leader''s senior sports star of the week. He was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in the 2014 Australia Day Honours "for service to sport as a Gold Medallist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games." In October 2014, he and

Lydia Lassila Lydia Lassila (née Ierodiaconou) (born 17 January 1982) is an Australian Olympic freestyle skier gold medalist who competed in the 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympic Games. She is the 2010 Olympic champion and the 2014 bronze med ...

were joint winners of the Victorian Institute of Sport Gatorade Spirit Award. In 2016, Erdem was named the Hume Leader Senior Sports Star of the year. In 2018, he became the first Australian to be inducted into the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) Hall of Fame.

References

External links