Claire Taggart

{{Infobox person

| name = Claire Taggart

| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE}}

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| birth_date = {{birth-date and age|11 February 1995}}

| birth_place = Larne Northern Ireland

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| known_for = Boccia Paralympian

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| occupation = stationer and Paralympic Boccia Player

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| nationality = British

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Claire Taggart MBE (born 11 February 1995) is a UK Paralympic Boccia player and stationer from Larne, Northern Ireland.

As of 2023 Claire is ranked 1st in the BC2 rankings, She is also a fan of local association football team Larne F.C. and regularly does speeches and interviews at Half Time of matches talking about her triumphs in Boccia

Life

Taggart is from Larne in Northern Ireland. She was identified as a BC2 boccia player in 2014.{{Cite web|title=Claire Taggart - Medical and clinical orthotics|url=https://www.dmorthotics.com/meet-team-dmo/claire-taggart|access-date=2021-06-25|website=DM Orthotics|language=en-US}}

She was named with David Smith, Nigel Murray and Joshua Rowe as part of the UK's Boccia team.{{Cite web|title={{!}} UK Sport|url=https://www.uksport.gov.uk/athlete-profiles/paralympics/b/boccia-mixed-team-bc12|access-date=2021-06-25|website=www.uksport.gov.uk}} She was 21 when competed at the Rio Paralympics in 2016. No one from Northern Ireland had competed in a Paralympic boccia event before. She would later call her dog Rio.{{Cite web|title=Great Britain Squad|url=http://boccia.uk.com/gb-squad|access-date=2021-06-25|website=Boccia UK|language=en-GB}}

Taggart runs her own stationery business.

She won a silver medal at the European Championships in Seville in 2019 where she was beaten by Francis Rombouts from Belgium. Taggart was in the three person team with Reegan Stevenson and David Smith that received gold medals. The three of them beat the team from Slovakia 4–3 in the final.{{Cite news|title=Larne star Claire Taggart achieves double boccia medal success at European Championships|language=en-GB|work=belfasttelegraph|url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/larne-star-claire-taggart-achieves-double-boccia-medal-success-at-european-championships-37975671.html|access-date=2021-06-25|issn=0307-1235}} During the COVID-19 pandemic she had to keep fit by training in her hallway for four months.

In January 2020 she was appointed as the accessibility officer at Larne F.C. initially in an advisory role.{{Cite web |date=2020-01-07 |title=Disability Access Officer & Chaplain appointments made {{!}} Larne FC |url=https://larnefc.com/disability-access-officer-chaplain-appointments-made/ |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=larnefc.com |language=en-GB}}

In 2022, Taggert secured two gold medals at the Boccia World Cup in Portugal.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/62115430 |title=Claire Taggart: Larne woman wins second gold at Boccia World Cup in Portugal |date=10 June 2022 |publisher=BBC Sport |access-date=13 February 2012}} and later the same year, gold in the Boccia World Championships in Rio.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/63928571 |title=World Boccia Championships: Claire Taggart wins gold in Rio, David Smith takes silver |date=10 December 2022 |publisher=BBC Sport |access-date=13 February 2012}} Taggart is supported by the Mary Peters Trust.{{Cite web |title=Claire Taggart – Mary Peters Trust |url=https://marypeterstrust.org/claire-taggart/ |access-date=2023-02-22 |language=en-US}}

Taggart was awarded an MBE in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to Boccia.{{cite news

|url= https://www.newsletter.co.uk/community/paralympian-claire-taggart-has-been-made-an-mbe-in-the-kings-new-year-honours-list-4925981

|newspaper= Newsletter

|author=

|date= 30 December 2024

|accessdate= 1 January 2025

|title=Taggart made MBE in Kings New Year Honours List}}