Sam Julian Bramham,

OAM OAM may refer to: *Oamaru Aerodrome, New Zealand * Object access method *Observatorio Astronómico de Mallorca, an observatory in Spain *U.S. Office of Alternative Medicine, whose duties have been taken over by the National Center for Complementary ...

(born 23 May 1988) is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He competed at the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

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 ...

. Between those two Games, he won two gold medals, two silver medals and a bronze medal. In 2014 Bramham entered the eleventh season of ''

Big Brother Australia ''Big Brother Australia'' (also known simply as ''Big Brother'') is an Australian reality show based on the international ''Big Brother'' format created by John de Mol. Following the premise of other versions of the format, the show features ...

'' and was a contestant in the first season of

Australian Ninja Warrior ''Australian Ninja Warrior'' is a sports entertainment competition spin-off of the Japanese television series '' Sasuke'' which premiered on 9 July 2017 on the Nine Network. It features hundreds of competitors attempting to complete series of ...

in 2017.

Personal life

Bramham tells several stories about how he lost his leg; one story involves his leg being eaten off by an alligator. Another story is that a shark attacked him. A third story, one he often tells international journalists, involves his leg being "chomped off by a kangaroo". The reality is that he was born missing part of his limb: he has no

femur The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates wit ...

. What remained of his leg was amputated when he was five years old. Bramham was born on 23 May 1988 and is from

Ivanhoe, Victoria Ivanhoe is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Banyule local government area. Ivanhoe recorded a population of 13,374 at the 2021 census. History Gre ...

, where he attended

Ivanhoe Grammar School , motto_translation = Faithful even unto death . , established = 1915 , type = Independent, co-educational , denomination = Anglican , slogan = Courageous and Kind . , ...

. One of his heroes is

Geoff Huegill Geoffrey Andrew Huegill (born 4 March 1979) is an Australian swimmer and dual Olympian who won seventy-two international medals, including two medals in Olympics and six world champion titles, throughout his career. He held eight world records, i ...

. Outside of swimming, he competes at

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with t ...

, Australian rules football and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

. Amongst these sports, rugby union was his preferred sport, and he played it at school until the school removed him from the team, citing concerns that his prosthetic leg may potentially injure his teammates and opposing players. Not being able to play his first choice sport was one of the reasons he got involved with swimming.

Swimming

Bramham first represented Australia internationally in 2004. His highest international ranking was number one. He was coached by Matt Byrne of the Tritons Swimming Club. In 2000, he competed at the

Pacific School Games The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. In 2006, he competed in the World Championships in

Berlin, Germany Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, as measured by population within city limits having gained this stat ...

where he set a world record and won a gold medal. To Bramah's disappointment, four months before the start of the 2006 Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne, Victoria, the games announced they would not include Elite Athletes with Disability butterfly swimming on the event schedule. To qualify for the Commonwealth Games, he switched to and qualified to compete in the 100 m freestyle. In 2011, he competed in the Can-Am Swimming Open, where he earned gold medals in two events: S9 100 m freestyle and 50 m and 100 m butterfly. He has been an

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of th ...

paralympic swimming and

Victorian Institute of Sport The Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) is the government-funded sporting institute of the Australian state of Victoria. It provides high performance sports programs for talented athletes, enabling them to achieve national and international suc ...

scholarship holder.

Paralympics

Bramham was one of the youngest Australian competitors at the 2004 Paralympics. He earned a bronze medal in the first Games he competed at in the Men's 4×100 m medley 34 event. He broke a world record in Athens during one of the heats for the 100 m butterfly event. He won a gold medal at the

2004 Athens Games 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), ...

in the men's 100 m butterfly S9 event, a gold medal in the men's 4×100 m medley 34 pts event and a silver medal in the men's 4×100 m freestyle 34 pts event. He won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games in the men's 100 m butterfly S9 event, a gold medal in the men's 4×100 m medley 34 pts event and a silver medal in the men's 4×100 m freestyle 34 pts event.

Professional career

Sam is a professionally trained public/motivational speaker and has spoken to schools, councils, businesses, sports groups and charities – collecting years of speaking experience. Sam started on the public speaking circuit in 2004 after media attention he received for success at the Athens Paralympics and for telling American media that his leg was mauled off by a kangaroo. From what began as informative sessions offering a few laughs, Sam's presentations have grown into a series of diverse presentations. Sam is also radio trained and media friendly, with regular appearances on stations such as SEN, Joy, SYN FM and ABC Digital. Sam owns two hospitality venues, Chei Wen Wine Bar in Ivanhoe and Fly Lie Bar in Kew

Charitable work and philanthropy

Sam commits a lot of his time to charity, working with young kids with disability, disadvantaged and underprivileged youth, victims of bullying and upskilling troubled teens. He is an ambassador for Disability Sport and Recreation, Bully Zero Australia, OzChild and Group Training Association of Victoria.

Recognition

In 2009, Bramham received the Medal of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...

"For service to sport as a gold medallist at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games".

Big Brother

From 9 September 2014, Bramham appeared as a housemate on the 11th season of ''

'' on the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television ne ...

. He entered the house on Day 2 where he was partnered with Cat Law, a midwife, whom he played the game with until Day 8 when as part of a pair swap was made by then-heads of house pair Dion Kallis and Jason Roses he was paired with Ryan Ginns (who was announced winner during the finale on 26 November 2014). He was evicted on Day 37.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bramham, Sam 1988 births Living people Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia Male Paralympic swimmers of Australia Swimmers from Melbourne Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Australian Institute of Sport Paralympic swimmers Victorian Institute of Sport alumni Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Big Brother (Australian TV series) contestants S9-classified Paralympic swimmers Paralympic medalists in swimming Australian male butterfly swimmers People from Ivanhoe, Victoria People educated at Ivanhoe Grammar School Sportsmen from Victoria (state)