Terry Giddy

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Terry Giddy

| image = 150600 - Terry Giddy - 3a - 2000 media guide scan.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = 2000 Australian Paralympic team portrait of Giddy

| full_name = Terence Kenneth Giddy

| nickname =

| nationality = Australian

| club =

| collegeteam =

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1950|4|2}}

| birth_place = Kempsey, New South Wales, Australia

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2023|8|18|1950|4|2}}

| death_place = Kempsey, New South Wales, Australia

| height = 1.80 m

| weight =

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalCountry | {{AUS}} }}

}}

Terence Kenneth Giddy (2 April 1950 – 18 August 2023) was an Australian Paralympic athlete with paraplegia, who won six medals over six Paralympics.

Personal life

Terence Kenneth Giddy was born on 2 April 1950 in the New South Wales town of Kempsey, as the second of four children.{{cite web |archiveurl=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20000120000000/http://www.ausport.gov.au/olym96/paraathl.html |archivedate=20 January 2000 |title=Australians at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics: Athletes |publisher=Australian Sports Commission |accessdate=29 February 2012 |url=http://www.ausport.gov.au/olym96/paraathl.html}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{cite web |url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/5299977 |title=Terry Giddy interviewed by Rob Willis and Tony Naar |work=Australian Centre for Paralympic Studies oral history project |publisher=National Library of Australia |accessdate=29 February 2012}} He became paraplegic at the age of 15 after a tree-felling accident.{{cite news |url=http://workers.labor.net.au/74/news94_para.html |title=WorkCover Goes For Gold in Paralympics |publisher=Workers Online |date=20 October 2000 |issue=74 |accessdate=29 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001213071100/https://workers.labor.net.au/74/news94_para.html|archive-date=13 December 2000|url-status=dead}} He was married to Margaret from 1978 until her death in 2022,{{cite web |url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/5299978 |title=Margaret Giddy interviewed by Rob Willis |work=Australian Centre for Paralympic Studies oral history project |publisher=National Library of Australia |accessdate=29 February 2012}}{{cite web|url=https://vimeopro.com/walkerfunerals/past-funerals/video/858522885|title=Terry Giddy funeral|author=Robert B Walker Funerals|publisher=Vimeo|date=23 August 2023|access-date=28 August 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://ryersonindex.org/search.php|title=Search for Notices: Margaret Giddy|work=The Ryerson Index|access-date=28 August 2023}} and had three stepsons and two grandchildren. He ran Big Terry's Little Gym, which trained powerlifters who won world titles. He was {{convert|1.8|m}} tall.{{cite web |url=http://www.melbourne2006.com.au/Participants/Participants?ID=109930 |title=Giddy Terence |publisher=Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games Corporation |accessdate=29 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060827045754/http://www.melbourne2006.com.au/Participants/Participants?ID=109930|archive-date=27 August 2006}}

Terry Giddy died in Kempsey on 18 August 2023, at the age of 73.{{Cite web |title=Confirmation letter about funeral of Terence Kenneth Giddy "Terry" |format=PDF|url=https://walkerfunerals.com.au/notice-letter/244b4847-0d64-4998-9c32-ff3046308870|date=21 August 2023|access-date=21 August 2023 |publisher=Robert B Walker Funerals|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230821085806/https://walkerfunerals.com.au/notice-letter/244b4847-0d64-4998-9c32-ff3046308870|archive-date=August 21, 2023}} In the later part of his life, he lived at Bupa Aged Care Facility in West Kempsey.{{Cite web |date=20 July 2018 |title=Paralympian who gave it his best shot |url=https://media.bupa.com.au/paralympian-who-gave-it-his-best-shot/ |access-date=21 August 2018 |publisher=Bupa Media}}

Career

File:51 ACPS Atlanta 1996 Field Terry Giddy.jpg]]

Giddy became involved in paralympic sport after a dare. He said "It began at a Christmas party...we were racing up and down the back lane and I said to the boss if I train a bit harder I may get to the Commonwealth Games. My boss and colleagues said if I got picked they would send me away and that's how it started."{{cite news |last=Khoury |first=Andre |title=Injury forces Paralympic legend to retire |url=http://www.macleayargus.com.au/news/local/sport/other/injury-forces-paralympic-legend-to-retire/598497.aspx?storypage=0 |accessdate=26 June 2012 |newspaper=The Macleay Argus |date=1 March 2004 |archive-url=http://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20080808121053/http://kempsey.yourguide.com.au/news/local/sport/other/injury-forces-paralympic-legend-to-retire/598497.aspx |archive-date=8 August 2008 |url-status=dead}}

Giddy's first national competition was the National Games in 1969, and his first international competition was the 1970 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in Edinburgh, where he won three gold medals and a silver medal. At the 1972 Heidelberg Paralympics, he won a silver medal in the Men's 100 m Wheelchair 4 event,{{cite web |url=https://www.paralympic.org/terry-giddy|title=Terry Giddy|publisher=International Paralympic Committee |accessdate=21 August 2023}} and also participated in the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team.{{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 |accessdate=29 February 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 }} He participated in the 1974 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in Dunedin, New Zealand. He was selected for but did not participate in the 1976 Toronto Paralympics due to illness, and also did not participate in the 1980 Arnhem Paralympics. He won a gold medal at the 1984 New York/Stoke Mandeville Paralympics in the Men's Discus 4 event, a silver medal in the same event at the 1988 Seoul Paralympics, a silver medal in the Men's Discus THW6 event and a bronze medal in the Men's Shot Put THW6 event at the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics, and a bronze medal in the Men's Shot Put F55 event at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics.

Just before the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, his classification was changed from F56 to F55, and he was told that he had been competing in the wrong disability group for his entire career.{{cite news |title=Outnumbered, but Giddy in class of his own |publisher=The Australian |date=21 October 2000 |first=Sophie |last=Tedmanson |page=52}} He did not win any medals at the 2000 Games. Giddy regretted his disqualification by video footage in the shot put at the Sydney Games after throwing a world record. In 2002, while training in Germany for the world titles in France, he cracked his sternum and hurt his back in a fall. He then prepared for the 2004 Athens Paralympics, but the back injury had flared up again, and the plate in his back had broken in half. He retired in early 2004 due to the injury. He came back for the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, where he came seventh in the seated shot put, and was Australia's oldest ever Commonwealth Games athlete.{{cite web |url=http://www.athletics.com.au/news/news/2006/march/pittman_fastest_into_final |title=Pittman the Fastest into Final in Womens 400m Hurdles |publisher=Athletics Australia |date=22 March 2006 |accessdate=29 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026192520/https://www.athletics.com.au/news/news/2006/march/pittman_fastest_into_final/|archive-date=26 October 2009}} At his farewell dinner in 2004, Chris Nunn, Head Coach of the Australian Athletics team at the Sydney Games, said "Whilst you may have travelled thousands of miles in economy class, your contribution has always been first class".

Recognition

In 1988, Giddy received an Advance Australia Award.{{cite book |title=Barcelona Paralympics 1992 : Australian team members profile handbook |publisher=Australian Paralympic Federation |location=Glebe, New South Wales |year=1992 |id=20779}} He carried the flag at the opening ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics. In 2000, he received an Australian Sports Medal.{{cite web |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/977631 |title=Giddy, Terry: Australian Sports Medal |publisher=It's an Honour |accessdate=29 February 2012}} That year, he carried the Sydney Olympic torch. He also received an Australia Day award and was given the key to the town of Kempsey. He was one of three Paralympians who campaigned about work safety for WorkCover during and after the 2000 Summer Paralympics. After his death, two members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly paid tribute to him in state parliament: Michael Kemp, who had been his physiotherapist, and fellow Paralympian Liesl Tesch.{{cite Hansard |jurisdiction=Parliament of New South Wales |title=Tribute to Terence Kenneth Giddy|url= https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Hansard/Pages/HansardResult.aspx#/docid/HANSARD-1323879322-134018/link/2282|house=Legislative Assembly |date=23 August 2023 |page_start=80 |page_end=81}}

References

External links

[http://athletics.possumbility.com/athletes/athlete6214.htm Terence 'Terry' Giddy] at Australian Athletics Historical Results
[http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-219086803/listen Terry Giddy interviewed by Rob Willis and Tony Naar in the Australian Centre for Paralympic Studies oral history project, National Library of Australia, 2011]
[https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-219087985/listen Margaret Giddy interviewed by Rob Willis in the Australian Centre for Paralympic Studies oral history project, National Library of Australia, 2011]

Category:1950 births

Category:2023 deaths

Category:Paralympic athletes for Australia

Category:Paralympic wheelchair basketball players for Australia

Category:Australian male wheelchair racers

Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Paralympics

Category:Wheelchair basketball players at the 1972 Summer Paralympics

Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Paralympics

Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Paralympics

Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Paralympics

Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Paralympics

Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Paralympics