McGuire in 2024 Stephen William McGuire (born 18 August 1984) is a Scottish

Boccia Boccia ( ) is a precision ball sport, similar to bocce, and related to bowls and pétanque. The name "boccia" is derived from the Latin word for "boss" – '. The sport is contested at local, national and international levels, by athletes w ...

player from

Bellshill Bellshill (pronounced "Bells hill") is a town in North Lanarkshire in Scotland, southeast of Glasgow city centre and west of Edinburgh. Other nearby localities are Motherwell to the south, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton to the south ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Personal life

McGuire was born on 18 August 1984, in

to a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

father and mother. He was born with

muscular dystrophy Muscular dystrophies (MD) are a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of rare neuromuscular diseases that cause progressive weakness and breakdown of skeletal muscles over time. The disorders differ as to which muscles are primarily affe ...

, a degenerative condition that means he requires the use of a wheelchair. McGuire is known to work in the community, helping with disabled young people and is an ambassador for the

Muscular Dystrophy Campaign About Muscular Dystrophy UK (MDUK) is a UK charitable organization, charity focusing on muscular dystrophy and related conditions. It works on behalf of those with over 60 muscle wasting and weakening conditions. For over 60 years, Muscular D ...

. He has recently attended his fourth Paralympic Games in Paris, where he won gold in the BC4 individual category.

Boccia

He competes in the BC4 classification. In pairs events, he was most successful with his brother

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

who also has muscular dystrophy. McGuire is the most successful British BC4 Boccia athlete; a ten-time Scottish Champion, thirteen-time British Champion, four-time European Champion, and former World Champion. In his early career and competing with his elder brother Peter he won the gold medal in the BC4 pairs event at the 2009 European Championships held in

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

, Portugal. In 2010, they won the silver medal at the World Championships in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, Portugal. Other major championship medals include European Silver from Hamar, Norway 2011 as well as retaining European Gold in the Pairs event in 2013, multiple World Open medals in Povoa Portugal, Montreal Canada and reaching the pinnacle of his career by securing the World Championship Individual Gold medal in Beijing 2016. In 2012 both Stephen and Peter were selected as part of the Boccia squad for

Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Great Britain competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012 as the host nation. A total of 288 athletes were selected to compete along with 13 other team members such as sighted guides. The c ...

. In the lead up to the games they participated in a documentary detailing their journey through life and into sport.,Boccia Brothers
/ref> marking his first games. Subsequently competing in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

and

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mcguire, Stephen 1984 births Living people Paralympic boccia players for Great Britain Scottish people of English descent Boccia players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Boccia players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Boccia players at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Boccia players at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic medalists in boccia Anglo-Scots Members of the Order of the British Empire