Garett Hickling

{{short description|Canadian wheelchair rugby player}}

{{Infobox rugby biography

|name = Garett Hickling

|image = Wheelchair rugby game 2.jpg

|caption =Garett Hickling (in red, no. 5) vs USA's Bryan Kirkland, at a wheelchair rugby game.

|birth_name =

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1970|9|18|df=y}}

|birth_place = Mica Creek, BC

|height = 6 ft

|weight =

|nickname =

|occupation =full time athlete, former computer technician and machinist

|school =

|university =

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|children =

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|repteam1 = Canada

|website =

}}

Garett Hickling (born September 18, 1970)[http://www.cwsa.ca/images/hickling.html Athlete Profile - Garett Hickling] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006043527/http://www.cwsa.ca/images/hickling.html |date=2011-10-06 }}, Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association (CWSA), 2006 is a Canadian wheelchair rugby player. He is on the Canada national wheelchair rugby team and has been voted most valuable player at several World Championships (1995,1998, and 2002). He earned a gold medal from the 2002 World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden; a silver medal from the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece, and a bronze medal from 2008 in Beijing, China.{{cite web |url=https://www.paralympic.org/garett-hickling |title=Garett Hickling |website=Paralympic.org |publisher=International Paralympic Committee |access-date=}} He was the Canadian flag-bearer at the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Paralympics.{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olympics/wheelchair-rugby-player-hickling-named-canadas-flag-bearer-at-paralympics/article4499972/ |location=Toronto |work=The Globe and Mail |title=Wheelchair rugby player Hickling named Canada's flag bearer at Paralympics |date=August 26, 2012 |accessdate=August 26, 2012 |archivedate=August 28, 2012 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828021512/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olympics/wheelchair-rugby-player-hickling-named-canadas-flag-bearer-at-paralympics/article4499972/ }} He has competed in every Paralympics that included his sport until his retirement, representing Canada five times.

Hickling broke his neck at age 16 in 1987. He and two friends were hiking an unfamiliar B.C. trail at night when they fell off a cliff; one of the friends died. About five years later, Hickling took up wheelchair rugby.{{cite news|title=Wheelchair rugby player Hickling named Canada's flag bearer at Paralympics |url=https://www.cbc.ca/sports/wheelchair-rugby-player-hickling-named-canada-s-flag-bearer-at-paralympics-1.1174429 |access-date=August 26, 2012 |publisher=CBC Sports |date=August 26, 2012 |agency=The Canadian Press |archive-date=August 28, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828004148/http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2012/08/26/sp-paralympics-garett-hickling-flag-bearer.html }}