Noel Thatcher

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Noel Thatcher
{{nobold|{{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE}}}}

| occupation = British paralympic runner
(1984–2004)
Physiotherapist

| spouse =

| medaltemplates =

{{Medal|Country|{{GBR2}}}}

}}

Noel Thatcher {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MBE}} is a British Paralympic runner who represented the United Kingdom at six Paralympic Games between 1984 and 2004, collecting a total of five gold medals. His two career highlights are winning gold and setting a world record at Barcelona in 1992, and winning the 5k race in Sydney in 2000, again setting a world record. At the 2004 Games in Athens, he carried the flag for the Great Britain team at the opening ceremony.{{cite web|url=http://2012.youthsporttrust.org/noel-thatcher/index.html |title=Noel Thatcher |accessdate=20 January 2012 |url-status=unfit |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120214117/http://2012.youthsporttrust.org/noel-thatcher/index.html |archivedate=20 January 2012 }}, Youth Sport Trust

Early life

Thatcher, who is visually impaired, attended a mainstream primary school where he encountered difficulties with his studies because of his vision. At ten he was sent to Exhall Grange School near Coventry, a specialist school for visually impaired students, and it was here that he developed his athletic skills. Thatcher has said that he was made to run five miles every day for a month as a punishment after he was caught smoking aged twelve, and this helped him to become a proficient runner.{{cite web|url=http://www.visioncharity.co.uk/sportslegacy/news.php |title=Sports Legacy Initiative - News |publisher=Vision Charity |accessdate=6 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921010825/http://www.visioncharity.co.uk/sportslegacy/news.php |archivedate=21 September 2012 }}

Career

He made his athletics debut at seventeen at a national school championships after being persuaded to attend by a friend, and won a gold medal. He went on to represent the United Kingdom at the Paralympics in 1984, winning silver in the B3 400m.{{cite web |title=Medallists New York / Stoke Mandeville 1984 Paralympic Games Athletics |url=http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/reports.php?type=event&criteria=0&games=1984PG&sport=2 |website=International Paralympic Committee |access-date=16 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000258/http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/reports.php?type=event&criteria=0&games=1984PG&sport=2 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead}}

At the 1988 Seoul Paralympics, Thatcher won gold in the B2 800m and silver in the B2 1500m, behind Mariano Ruiz of Spain.{{cite web |title=Medallists Seoul 1988 Paralympic Games Athletics |url=http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/reports.php?type=event&criteria=0&games=1988PG&sport=2 |website=IPC |access-date=16 August 2022 |archive-date=24 July 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130724164413/http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/reports.php?type=event&criteria=0&games=1988PG&sport=2 |url-status=bot: unknown }}

Four years later at Barcelona 1992, he took the gold medal in the B2 1500m; the silver in the B1-B3 4 × 400m relay alongside Simon Butler, Andrew Curtis and Mark Whiteley; and the bronze in the B2 800m.{{cite web |title=IPC Historical Results Archive: Athletics at the Barcelona 1992 Paralympic Games |url=https://db.ipc-services.org/sdms/hira/web/competition/code/PG1992/sport/AT |website=IPC |access-date=16 August 2022 |archive-date=15 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201015134950/https://db.ipc-services.org/sdms/hira/web/competition/code/PG1992/sport/AT |url-status=dead }}

Thatcher was a double gold medal winner at Atlanta 1996, triumphing in the T11 5000m and 10,000m.{{cite web |url=https://www.paralympic.org/atlanta-1996/results/athletics |title=Results Archive: Atlanta 1996, Athletics |website=International Paralympic Committee}}

At the 2000 Sydney Games, in the T12 class, Thatcher took gold in the 5000m and bronze in the 10,000m.{{cite web |title=Medallists Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games Athletics |url=http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/reports.php?type=event&criteria=0&games=2000PG&sport=2 |website=IPC |access-date=16 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202191249/http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/reports.php?type=event&criteria=0&games=2000PG&sport=2 |archive-date=2 February 2016 |url-status=dead}}

Thatcher carried the flag for Great Britain at the opening ceremony of Athens 2004, and competed in the T12 5000m and T13 10,000m, narrowly missing out on a medal by finishing fourth in both finals.{{cite web |title=Results Archive Athens 2004 Athletics - Men's 5000 m T12 |url=https://www.paralympic.org/athens-2004/results/athletics/mens-5000-m-t12 |website=IPC |access-date=16 August 2022}}{{cite web |title=Results Archive Athens 2004 Athletics - Men's 10000 m T13 |url=https://www.paralympic.org/athens-2004/results/athletics/mens-10000-m-t13 |website=IPC |access-date=16 August 2022}}

Personal life

Thatcher met his wife Yumi while studying Japanese at London's School of Oriental and African Studies. Away from athletics, Thatcher works as a physiotherapist at the Holly House Hospital in Buckhurst Hill, Essex.

Honours

His achievements at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta led to him being appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1997 New Year Honours for services to athletics for disabled people.{{London Gazette |issue=54625 |page=23 |date=31 December 1996}} He was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009.{{cite news|url=http://www.englandathletics.org/news.asp?itemTitle=Coaching+%96+be+the+best!§ion=42§ionTitle=England+Athletics+News&itemid=2083 |title=Hall of Fame Inductees 2009 |publisher=England Athletics |date=11 October 2009 |accessdate=6 April 2012}}

References

External links

[http://www.englandathletics.org/news.asp?itemTitle=Coaching+%96+be+the+best!§ion=42§ionTitle=England+Athletics+News&itemid=2083 England Athletics Hall of Fame]

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Living people

Category:English male long-distance runners

Category:British male long-distance runners

Category:Visually impaired long-distance runners

Category:British disabled sportspeople

Category:Paralympic long-distance runners

Category:English people with disabilities

Category:Sportsmen with disabilities

Category:British physiotherapists

Category:Paralympic athletes for Great Britain

Category:Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain