Sir Philip Lee Craven (born 4 July 1950) is an English sports administrator, former

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is a style of basketball played using a sports wheelchair. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as ...

player,

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

and

track and field athlete Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

. Between 2001 and 2017 he was the second president of the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; ) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nin ...

(IPC).

Early life and education

Craven was born on 4 July 1951 in

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He was educated at Bolton School Boys' Division, where he was a keen swimmer, cricketer and tennis player. In 1966, at the age of 16, he fell during a

rock-climbing Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in guidebooks, and ...

expedition at Wilton Quarries, Bolton. The accident left him without the use of his legs. He studied

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

, and graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(BA) degree in 1972.

Athlete

Craven represented Great Britain in

at five editions of the

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 ...

, from

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

. He also competed in

track and field athletics Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

and swimming at the 1972 Games. He won gold at the

Wheelchair Basketball World Championship The IWBF World Wheelchair Basketball Championship (World Championships from 1973 to 2002 (2006) known as Gold Cup) is an international wheelchair basketball competition contested by the men's and the women's national teams of the members of the I ...

s in 1973, bronze in 1975, and two gold medals (1971, 1974) and a silver (1993) at the

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

s. He also won gold at the European Champions Cup in 1994, and gold at the 1970 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games.Biography

Results at the Paralympic Games

Sports administrator

In 1980, alongside Horst Strohkendl and Stan Labanowich, Craven played a vital role in the development of a new classification system for wheelchair basketball athletes. Wheelchair basketball rejected its medically based classification system consisting of 3 classes, a system that was founded upon principles that forced athletes to depend on medical examinations. This progress led to a new 4-class functional system, which was democratically voted in 1982. Due to this, wheelchair basketball was increasingly associated with sport as opposed to medicine and rehabilitation, although both still play an important secondary role. In 1988, Craven was elected Chairman of the Wheelchair Basketball Section of the

International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation World Abilitysport (formerly the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation or IWAS) is an international sports organisation that governs sports for athletes with Physical disability, physical impairments. It is a registered charity ...

(ISMGF), the first athlete to lead the sport worldwide. Craven's striving for self-determination and self-government pave the way for the establishment of wheelchair basketball as an independent federation, when it gave up its previous identification as a basketball section of the ISMGF to become the independent, self-governing

International Wheelchair Basketball Federation The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is the international governing body for the sport of Wheelchair Basketball. IWBF is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as the sole competent authority in wheelch ...

(IWBF) in 1993. At the First IWBF Official World Congress 1994 in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Philip Craven was elected the first President of IWBF, holding the office until 1998. A productive and more formalised working relationship with

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...

, the worldwide governing body for the sport of basketball, was arranged under Craven's administration, to further legitimise wheelchair basketball itself.

Notable achievements as sports administrator

* Chairman, Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association (GBWBA) (1977–1980, 1984–1987, 1989–1994) * Chairman, Classification Committee, ISMWSF Basketball Section (1984–1988) * Chief Executive Officer,

(IWBF) (1994–1998) * Performance Director, GBWBA Men's Wheelchair Basketball Team (1998–2002) * President, International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) (1998–2002) * President,

(IPC) (2001-2017) * Foundation board member,

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; , AMA) is an international organization co-founded by the governments of over 140 nations along with the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against d ...

(WADA) (since 2002) * Board member, Olympic Truce Foundation (since 2002) * Member, IOC Commission for Culture and Olympic Education (since 2005) * Member, IOC

2008 Beijing 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 ...

Co-ordination Commission (since 2002) * Member, IOC Sport & Environment Commission (2002–2005) * Member,

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

(IOC) (since 2003) * Member, Executive Board,

British Olympic Association The British Olympic Association (BOA; ) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It represents the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), but also incorporate represen ...

(since 2003) * Administration Council Member,

International Committee for Fair Play The International Fair Play Committee (), abbreviated as the CIFP or the IFPC, is a not for profit international non-governmental organisation which serves to foster sportsmanship in international competition. It presents awards annually at the ...

(since 2003) * Board member,

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

Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (2005–12) * Member, IOC Congress 2009 Commission (2006–09)

President of the International Paralympic Committee

Craven was elected as the second President of the International Paralympic Committee in 2001. He oversaw 8 Paralympic games with his first being Salt Lake City in 2002 and his last being in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Sir Philip became the first President to have the Paralympics games hosted in his home country, with the UK in 2012. On 7 August 2016, Sir Philip announced that the International Paralympic Committee would ban Russia from participating in the

2016 Paralympic Games The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, f ...

for allegedly violating international doping rules. This followed WADA's June 2016 report with accusations of state-sponsored

doping in Russia Systematic Doping in sport, doping of Sport in Russia, Russian athletes has resulted in 51 Olympic medals List of stripped Olympic medals, stripped from Russia (and Russian associated teams), four times the number of the next highest, and more th ...

. Sir Philip put the blame for the ban on Russia's government, stating that Russia has "catastrophically failed its para athletes," adding, "their medals-over-morals mentality disgusts me." Russia's appeal to the CAS against the ban was rejected, a decision that prompted

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

's public accusations against the international bodies responsible for imposing the ban.

Other activities

Craven served as Company Secretary at the

British Coal Corporation The British Coal Corporation was a nationalised corporation responsible for the mining of coal in the United Kingdom from 1987 until it was effectively dissolved in 1997. The corporation was created by renaming its predecessor, the National Co ...

from 1986 up to 1991. He is an Ambassador for

Peace and Sport Peace and Sport (also known as "L’Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport") is a sports organization based in Monaco under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco. Ivorian Football player, footballer Didier Drogba became the organization's ...

, a

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

-based international organisation, committed to serving peace in the world through sport. In the 1991 New Years Honours List he was appointed a

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) by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

"for services to sport for the disabled." In the

2005 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2005 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 11 June 2005 to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2005. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and arranged first by the cou ...

, Craven was

Knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

by the Queen for services to Paralympic Sport. In 2017, Sir Philip was awarded the

Paralympic Order The Paralympic symbols are the icons, flags, and symbols used by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to promote the Paralympic Games. Motto The current Paralympic motto is "Spirit in Motion". It was introduced at the 2004 Summer Paralymp ...

. In June 2018, Sir Philip was appointed to the board of directors of the

Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

References

External links

IPC President`s Blog

Sir Philip CRAVEN, MBE
official website of the Olympic Movement
International Paralympic Committee official website

IWBF official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Craven, Philip 1950 births 20th-century English sportsmen Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University Alumni of the Victoria University of Manchester Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Paralympics British International Olympic Committee members British men's wheelchair basketball players English male breaststroke swimmers British male breaststroke swimmers English men's basketball players International Paralympic Committee members Knights Bachelor Knights of the Order of Ipiranga Living people Members of the Order of the British Empire Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Paralympic athletes for Great Britain Paralympic swimmers for Great Britain Paralympic wheelchair basketball players for Great Britain People educated at Bolton School Sportspeople awarded knighthoods People with paraplegia Presidents of the International Paralympic Committee Recipients of the Paralympic Order Sportspeople from Bolton Swimmers at the 1972 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 1972 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 1976 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 1980 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair-category Paralympic competitors English sports executives and administrators