Paul Narracott (born 8 October 1959) was the first Australian sportsperson (and only male) to have represented Australia at both a Summer ( Los Angeles, 1984) and Winter Olympics ( Albertville, 1992). Starting his career as a track sprinter, Paul was Australian Junior

100 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standard SI prefix for a hundred is " hecto-". 100 is the b ...

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

champion. In 1977 he won his first of six Australian senior 100 metres championships, and was also 2nd in the 200 metres championships on four occasions.

Career

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

he won gold at the 100 metres at the

Pacific Conference Games The Pacific Conference Games were a quadrennial Athletics (sport), athletics competition, held between 1969 and 1985 and contested by Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States. Each of the five nations hosted an edition of the comp ...

, he also won silver in the 200, and took two bronzes in the 4x100, and 4x400 at these Championships. He also competed at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

in the 100 metres for Oceania where he finished 8th. In 1978, Narracott ran 10.0 flat winning the

Australian Championships The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events every year, held be ...

, he then competed in the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton where he reached all three finals finishing 6th in the 100 metres, 4th in the 200 metres, and 7th with the sprint relay team. He chose to not compete at the

1980 Moscow Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

due to a partial

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...

encouraged by the government. In 1981, he competed at the

Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a Blend word, portmanteau of the wor ...

, where he reached the semi-finals of both sprints. In 1982, he competed in the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, where again he reached the finals of 100, 200, and 4x100, where he finished 4th in all three events, narrowly missing out on a medal, especially in the 100 metres. He competed in the World Championship in Helsinki in 1983, where he reached the 100 metres final finishing in 7th. He also ran in the 200 metres but went out in the Quarter finals. In 1984 he ran a national hand time record of 9.9 in Brisbane, afterwards he had a victory over Mel Lattany at Melbourne, running a then Australian record of 10.26. He went on to the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

in Los Angeles to compete in the 100/200 but did not advance past the Quarter finals. His personal best in the 100 metres was 10.26 in 1984, and for the 200 metres 20.65 in the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games. Also in 1984 he defeated

Carl Lewis Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) is an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. Lewis was a dominant sprinter and lo ...

in the 60 metres in

Osaka, Japan is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third-most populous city in Japan, following the special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a populatio ...

. He also competed for the Australian two-man

Bobsleigh Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of 2 to 4 athletes make timed speed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobslei ...

team alongside Glen Turner at the

1992 Winter Olympics The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Albertville '92 (Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile '92''), were a winter multi-sport event held from 8 to 23 February 1992 in and aroun ...

Albertville Albertville (; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It is best k ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, making him the first Australian Olympian to compete at both Summer and Winter Games.Emily speeds up cycling ranks
/ref> In

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Jana Pittman became the second Australian to achieve this feat, also competing as a track and field athlete and in the bobsled events in

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

Personal life

Narracott's niece is skeleton racer Jaclyn Narracott, who competed for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and won the silver medal at the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

References

External links

*
Olympic profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Narracott, Paul 1959 births Living people Australian male sprinters Olympic athletes for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic bobsledders for Australia Bobsledders at the 1992 Winter Olympics Commonwealth Games athletes for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1982 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Australia Australian Institute of Sport track and field athletes Australian male bobsledders Place of birth missing (living people) Australian Athletics Championships winners 20th-century Australian sportsmen