Brian McNicholl

{{Short description|New Zealand-born Australian Paralympic athlete}}

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Brian McNicholl

| image = Australian paralympic powerlifter, Brian McNicholl, at the Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Games.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = McNicholl and his 1996 Summer Paralympic Games silver medal

| fullname = Brian Frederick McNicholl

| nicknames =

| nationality = Australian

| club =

| collegeteam =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|12|30|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Christchurch, New Zealand

| death_date =

| death_place =

| height =

| weight =

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalCountry | {{NZL}} }}

{{MedalCountry | {{AUS}} }}

}}

Brian Frederick McNicholl, OAM{{cite web|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/886388|title=McNicholl, Brian Frederick|publisher=It's an Honour|access-date=1 January 2012}} (born 30 December 1951) is a New Zealand-born Australian Paralympic powerlifter, weightlifter, wheelchair basketballer, and athlete, who won five medals at six Paralympic games from 1976 to 1996.

Personal

McNicholl was born on 30 December 1951 in Christchurch, New Zealand,{{cite web|url=http://www.ausport.gov.au/olym96/parapowe.html|archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20000120000000/http://www.ausport.gov.au/olym96/parapowe.html |title=Australians at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics: Powerlifters|archive-date=20 January 2000|publisher=Australian Sports Commission|access-date=2 January 2012}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} and became a paraplegic after contracting polio at the age of eleven months.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19780721&id=zddUAAAAIBAJ&pg=5642,1573842|title=Winners in Wheelchairs|publisher=The Age|date=21 July 1978|access-date=1 January 2012}} During school, he was forced to sit in the library while sport lessons were taking place; this fuelled his love for sport. He moved from New Zealand to Australia in 1978.

Career

McNicholl's first and only medal for New Zealand was silver at the 1976 Toronto Games in the Men's Slalom 4 event. At the same games McNicholl competed in the 100 m race, and placed fourth in both shot put and the lightweight weightlifting event.{{cite web|url=http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/results.php?eclass=4&sport=athletics&competition=1976PG&gender=m&discipline=&event=Shot%20Put|title=1976 results: Shot put|publisher=International Paralympic Committee|access-date=2 January 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/results.php?eclass=&sport=weightlifting&competition=1976PG&gender=m&discipline=&event=Lightweight|title=1976 results: Lightweight|publisher=International Paralympic Committee|access-date=2 January 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204165652/http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/results.php?eclass=&sport=weightlifting&competition=1976PG&gender=m&discipline=&event=Lightweight|archive-date=4 December 2013|df=dmy-all}}

After moving to Australia in 1978, he represented the country at five Paralympics and won three bronze, another silver and a gold medal, all in weightlifting and powerlifting. At the 1980 Arnhem Games, he placed fourth again in the shot put event,{{cite web|url=http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/results.php?eclass=4&sport=athletics&competition=1980PG&gender=m&discipline=&event=Shot%20Put|title=1980 results: Shot put|publisher=International Paralympic Committee|access-date=2 January 2012}} was part of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team that came thirteenth at the Games,{{cite web|url=http://wheelchairscanjump.com/rosters/WCJ_TR01_Paralympics-Men_A.pdf|title=Team Rosters:Paralympic Games (Men) 1960–1980|publisher=Wheelchairs Can Jump|first1=Stan|last1=Labanowich|first2=Armand|last2=Thiboutot|access-date=6 January 2012|archive-date=26 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426085404/http://wheelchairscanjump.com/rosters/WCJ_TR01_Paralympics-Men_A.pdf|url-status=dead}} and won a bronze medal in the Men's Middleweight −75 kg paraplegic weightlifting event. At the 1984 New York/Stoke Mandeville Games, McNicholl finished 4th in the same weight bracket.{{cite journal|title=Results of VII World Wheelchair Games|journal=Sports 'n Spokes|date=November–December 1984|pages=14}} In 1985, he won his first World Wheelchair Championships.{{cite web|url=http://www.paralympic.org.au/news/newsbody6c1d.html|archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20001205000000/http://www.paralympic.org.au/news/newsbody6c1d.html |archive-date=5 December 2000|title=Paralympic Legend McNicholl retires due to injury|publisher=Australian Paralympic Committee|work=APC Newsletter|date=March 2000|access-date=2 January 2011}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} McNicholl won another bronze medal at the 1988 Seoul Games in the Men's Up To 85 kg weightlifting event.

In 1991, McNicholl won his second World Wheelchair Weightlifting Championships at the University of Rhode Island, US, where he set a world record of {{convert|205|kg}}.{{cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6643/is_n1_v8/ai_n28608109/|title=World Wheelchair Weightlifting Championships|publisher=Palaestra|first=Paul M|last=DePace|date=Fall 1991|access-date=2 January 2012}} McNicholl's gold medal came at the 1992 Barcelona Games in the Men's Up To 90 kg event with his world record lift of {{convert|227.5|kg}}, for which he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia. He later said of the win: "Although placed in other Paralympics (before '92), I was inexperienced and didn't quite know how to handle the pressure."{{cite news| title=McNicholl's lift-off countdown /Monday profile| publisher=The Australian| date=12 August 1996| pages=26–27| first=John|last=Hogan|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/56553680 | access-date=2 January 2012|format=login required }}{{cite web|title=Athlete Search Results|url=http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/search.php?sport=all&games=all&medal=all&npc=all&name=McNicholl&fname=&gender=m|publisher=International Paralympic Committee|access-date=1 January 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202234450/http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/search.php?sport=all&games=all&medal=all&npc=all&name=McNicholl&fname=&gender=m|archive-date=2 December 2013|df=dmy-all}} In 1994, he set another world record when he lifted {{convert|230|kg}}, and won his third World Wheelchair Weightlifting Championships in Melbourne, Australia.{{cite web|url=http://www.dpc.vic.gov.au/domino/Web_Notes/pressrel.nsf/9d5a9280109520ff4a25620d002d06d8/b124b025911bfc974a2561f1003c1ca902ec.html|archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20050421140000/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/49388/20050422-0000/www.dpc.vic.gov.au/domino/Web_Notes/pressrel.nsf/9d5a9280109520ff4a25620d002d06d8/b124b025911bfc974a2561f1003c1ca902ec.html |archive-date=21 April 2005|title=Disabled Leisure Boost|publisher=Government of Victoria|date=25 November 1994|access-date=2 January 2012}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} In 1995, he competed at the European Weightlifting Championships in Strasbourg, France, and won a gold medal with a lift of {{convert|200|kg}}.{{cite journal|title=Powerlifting|page=5|journal=Paralympian Australia|author=Australian Paralympic Federation|year=1995|volume=Winter 1995|location=Glebe, New South Wales|url=http://catalogue.ausport.gov.au/uhtbin/cgisirsi/a0dH6isXrn/CANBERRA/171671720/9|access-date=3 January 2012|format=login required}} He was coached by Blagoy Blagoev, and advised by Olympic runner Herb Elliott, who he has known since the 1980s. In 1995, he was an Australian Institute of Sport Athlete with a Disability scholarship holder.{{cite book|title=Excellence : the Australian Institute of Sport|year=2002|publisher=Australian Sports Commission|location=Canberra|isbn=1-74013-060-X}}

His second silver medal, and first for Australia, was at the 1996 Atlanta Games in the Men's Up To 90 kg powerlifting event.

Despite being ranked second in the world in 1999, McNicholl retired from competitive lifting a few months before the 2000 Sydney Paralympics due to injury. That year, he received an Australian Sports Medal.{{cite web|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/976523|title=McNicholl, Brian: Australian Sports Medal|publisher=It's an Honour|access-date=12 January 2012}}

Other sports work

McNicholl served as the Chairman of Australian Weightlifting for People With Disabilities. From 1995 to 1998, he was the strength and conditioning coach for Collingwood Football Club. He also spent six years promoting sport in schools for the Victorian Department of Sport and Recreation.