Steve Graham
{{Short description|Paralympic skiing coach (born 1962)}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2014}}
{{Use Australian English|date=March 2014}}
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| birth_date = 23 January 1962
| birth_place = Palm Beach, Queensland
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Steve Graham (born 23 January 1962) is a retired Australian Paralympic winter sport coach. He was head coach of Australia's Winter Paralympic team for the 1994 Winter Paralympics, 2006 Winter Paralympics, 2010 Winter Paralympics and 2014 Winter Paralympics. {{As of|2014}}, after the Sochi winter Paralympics Graham ceased to be the current head coach of the Australian Paralympic Committee's Winter Paralympic program.
Personal
Graham was born on 23 January 1962 in Palm Beach, Queensland. His hobbies include doing yoga and going to the beach.{{cite web|url=http://vancouver2010.paralympic.org.au/team/steve-graham|access-date=26 October 2011|year=2010|location=Vancouver, Canada|title=Steve Graham|publisher=Australian Paralympic Committee|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110823004908/http://vancouver2010.paralympic.org.au/team/steve-graham|archive-date=23 August 2011|df=dmy-all}}
Coaching
File:Day 1 Lincoln Budge and Steve Graham Australia.jpg
Graham is a skiing coach for Paralympic athletes whose focus is coaching on sitting, standing and vision impaired skiers.{{cite web|url=http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/sports/awd_alpine/home |access-date=26 October 2011 |publisher=Australian Institute of Sport |title=Paralympic Alpine Skiing Home |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005224411/http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/sports/awd_alpine/home |archive-date= 5 October 2011 |df= }} His coaching philosophy involves athletes training hard every day as if the next day they would be competing in an event.{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|access-date=26 October 2011|url=http://www.theage.com.au/sport/gallagher-first-aussie-first-winter-paralympic-medalist-20100315-q6p9.html|title=Gallagher first Aussie first winter Paralympic medallist |date=15 March 2010}} He mentored and coached Michael Milton, Australia's first Winter Paralympics medallist.{{cite web|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|access-date=26 October 2011|url=http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2007/s2186631.htm|title=Take It To The Limit - Transcript|date=10 March 2010}} Milton gave one of the gold medals he earned at the 2002 Winter Paralympics to Graham.{{cite web|url=http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//Channel9/2002/03/15/CNINE20020315010/?s=paralympics|access-date=27 October 2011|title=NC 2002 08 27 TCN 6 p.m. news 16 Mar 2002 Michael Milton wins 4th gold medal at Paralympics |publisher=ITN|year=2002}} Graham also coached Jessica Gallagher, Australia's first female Winter Paralympic medallist, and Cameron Rahles Rahbula and Toby Kane.{{cite web|url=http://www.wintv.com.au/western_victoria/news/item/25693|access-date=26 October 2011|publisher=WIN TV|location=Western Australia, Australia|date=22 March 2010|title=Camperdown athlete flies the flag at the Paralympics|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121231024604/http://www.wintv.com.au/western_victoria/news/item/25693|archive-date=31 December 2012|df=dmy-all}} He helped the Australian ski team finish sixth at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships in Korea in 2009, where two athletes that he coached individually, Cameron Rahles‐Rahbula and Shannon Dallas, finished in first place.{{cite web|author=Australian Paralympic Committee|access-date=27 October 2011|url=http://www.toyota.com.au/toyota/events/Paralympics/Winter_Fast_Facts.pdf|title=Australia at the Winter Paralympic Games|publisher=Toyota Australia|location=Sydney, Australia}} Other athletes he has coached include Mitchell Gourley, who finished first in the giant slalom event at Australian National Skiing Championships.{{cite web|publisher=Australian Paralympic Committee|title=Mitchell Gourley|access-date=27 October 2011|year=2011|url=http://www.paralympic.org.au/team/mitchell-gourley}}
Graham was the assistant coach for the team at the 1992 Winter Paralympics. He then became head coach of Australia's Winter Paralympic team for the 1994 Winter Paralympics, 2006 Winter Paralympics, 2010 Winter Paralympics and the 2014 Winter Paralympics. In 2003, he was named the Australian Paralympic Committee’s Winter Paralympic Program head coach, and in 2010 signed a four-year deal to remain on in the position.{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/sport/winter-olympics/its-onward-and-upward-for-our-paralympic-team-20100322-qrem.html|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|location=Sydney, Australia|access-date=27 October 2011|title=Its onward and upward for our Paralympic team|first=Daniel|last=Lewis|date=23 March 2010}} {{As of|2014}}, Graham is the current head coach of the Australian Paralympic Committee's Winter Paralympic program. According to an interview published on the Australian Paralympic Committee site, his immediate priority was to prepare athletes for the 2014 Winter Paralympics, while at the same time working to insure the Australian winter sport program will be competitive for the 2018 Winter Paralympics.{{cite web|url=http://www.paralympic.org.au/news/pyeongchang-will-embrace-paralympic-ideals-hartung|access-date=26 October 2011|title=PyeongChang will embrace Paralympic ideals: Hartung|publisher=Australian Paralympic Committee|year=2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805141948/http://www.paralympic.org.au/news/pyeongchang-will-embrace-paralympic-ideals-hartung|archive-date=5 August 2011|df=dmy-all}} Part of the effort involves having an athlete retention of seventy-five percent.{{cite news|url=http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/two-hailed-for-paralympic-games-effort-20100322-qoej.html|access-date=26 October 2011|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|location=Sydney, Australia|date=22 March 2010|title=Two hailed for Paralympic Games effort|first=Patrick|last=Caruana}}{{cite web|access-date=27 October 2011|publisher=Sydney Morning Herald|location=Sydney, Australia|url=http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/two-hailed-for-paralympic-games-effort-20100322-qoej.html?skin=text-only|title=Two hailed for Paralympic Games effort|date=22 March 2010}}
Graham has spoken out against the classification system used by the International Paralympic Committee when it comes to classifying skiers. He felt the system was unfair. In an interview with Cerebral Palsy Australia, he said "We have three of the best 5 or 6 skiers in the world in the standing class and in the old system we would’ve won 8 or 10 medals. The new system definitely affected the Australian team achieving its medal goals.”{{cite web|url=http://www.cpaustralia.com.au/index.php/site/shareyourstory/skierconquershill|access-date=26 October 2011|title=Skier Conquers Hill|publisher=Cerebral Palsy Australia|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110821210211/http://www.cpaustralia.com.au/index.php/site/shareyourstory/skierconquershill|archive-date=21 August 2011|df=dmy-all}}
Recognition
In 2010, Graham was a finalist the Coach of the Year award given by the Australian Institute of Sport.{{cite web|url=http://corporate.olympics.com.au/news/ais-athlete-of-the-year-finalists-named|publisher=Australian Olympic Committee|access-date=26 October 2011|title=AIS Athlete of the Year Finalists named|date=11 November 2010}} That same year, Graham was also named by Australian Paralympic Committee as the Coach of the Year.{{cite web|url=http://www.paralympic.org.au/games-amp-events/paralympian-year-awards/paralympian-year-awards|access-date=27 October 2011|publisher=Australian Paralympic Committee|title=Paralympian of the Year Awards|year=2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508205303/http://www.paralympic.org.au/games-amp-events/paralympian-year-awards/paralympian-year-awards|archive-date=8 May 2012|df=dmy-all}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{2010 Australian Paralympic Team}}
{{2014 Australian Paralympic Team}}
{{Portal bar|Australia|Biography|Sports}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Steve}}
Category:Paralympic coaches for Australia
Category:Coaches at the 1994 Winter Paralympics
Category:Coaches at the 2006 Winter Paralympics
Category:Coaches at the 2010 Winter Paralympics