Piers Alexander Gilliver MBE (born 17 September 1994) is a British wheelchair fencer, who competes in both épée and sabre. He is the 2020 Paralympic champion in the Individual Épée, A classification. He is the first British Paralympic champion in the sport since Carol Walton in 1988.
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| Born | 17 September 1994 Gloucester, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weapon | Épée A / Sabre A | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National coach | Peter Rome | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | University of Bath | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability class | A | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Gilliver has previously won medals at both World and European Championship level. In 2016 he represented Great Britain at the Rio Paralympics and won a silver medal [1]
Personal history
editGilliver was born in Gloucester, England on 17 September 1994.[2] He attended Hopebrook C of E School in Longhope. He has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome a congenital illness which in 2007 left him as a full-time wheelchair user.[3]
Wheelchair fencing career
editGilliver first got into wheelchair fencing in 2010 at his local fencing club in Cheltenham after looking for a new sport as his mobility decreased.[1][4] He joined the British Disabled Fencing Association in 2011.[4] In 2012 Gilliver made his international debut for the British team at a World Cup event in Warsaw, coming 11th in the Category A épée.[4]
In 2013 Gilliver took part in his first IWAS World Championships. The same year he was named Junior World Champion in the U23's Category A épée.[4] In the buildup to the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, Gilliver took nine podium finishes at international matches including the silver medal at the IWAS wheelchair fencing World Championships in Eger.[1][4] In 2016 he was selected for TeamGB at the 2016 Summer Paralympics where he gained a silver medal in the Épée A.[5]
In July 2021 Gilliver, Dimitri Coutya, Gemma Collis-McCann and Oliver Lam-Watson were identified as the British wheelchair fencing team who would compete at the delayed 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo,[5] where he won gold in the Épée A, silver in the Team Foil and bronze in the Team Épée.[6]
Gilliver was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to fencing.[7][8]
He won a silver medal at the 2024 Paralympic Games in the Sabre A event.[9]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Gilliver, Piers". paralympic.org. Retrieved 13 September 2016.[dead link]
- ^ "Piers Gilliver". British Fencing. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
- ^ Hudson, Elizabeth. "Piers Gilliver: Wheelchair fencer faces uncertain future". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
- ^ a b c d e "Piers Gilliver". rio.paralympics.org.uk. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
- ^ a b "Gilliver & Coutya named in GB team". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
- ^ "Wheelchair Fencing - Results Book" (PDF). Olympics.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
- ^ "No. 63571". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 2022. p. N19.
- ^ "New Year Honours 2022: Jason Kenny receives a knighthood and Laura Kenny made a dame". BBC Sport. 31 December 2021.
- ^ "Paralympics 2024: Piers Gilliver wins wheelchair fencing silver for Great Britain in men's Sabre A". BBC Sport. 3 September 2024. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
External links
edit- Piers Gilliver at ParalympicsGB
- Piers Gilliver at the International Paralympic Committee
- Piers Gilliver at IPC.InfostradaSports.com (archived)