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Stephen Miller (club thrower)

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For the American athlete and coach, see Steve Miller (sports executive).

Stephen Miller
MBE
Personal information
Full nameStephen James Miller
Born26 May 1980 (1980-05-26) (age 44)
Medal record
Men's para athletics
Representing  Great Britain
Paralympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1996 Atlanta Club throw F32/51
Gold medal – first place 2000 Sydney Club throw F32/51
Gold medal – first place 2004 Athens Club throw F32/51
Silver medal – second place 2008 Beijing Club throw F32/51
Bronze medal – third place 2000 Sydney Discus F32/51
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Rio de Janeiro Club throw F32/51
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1998 Birmingham Club throw – F32
Gold medal – first place 2002 Lille Club throw – F32
Gold medal – first place 2006 Assen Club throw – F32
Silver medal – second place 2002 Lille Discus throw – F32
Bronze medal – third place 2011 Christchurch Club throw – F32
Bronze medal – third place 2017 London Club throw – F32
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2003 Assen Club throw – F32
Gold medal – first place 2003 Assen Discus throw – F32
Gold medal – first place 2005 Espoo Club throw – F32
Gold medal – first place 2012 Stadskanaal Club throw – F32
Silver medal – second place 2014 Swansea Club throw – F32
Silver medal – second place 2018 Berlin Club throw – F32
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Grosseto Club throw – F32

Stephen James Miller MBE (born 27 May 1980) is a British athlete who competes in the fields of Paralympic club and discus throwing. He has won three gold, one silver, and one bronze medal in the F32/51 club throw at the Paralympics. In Paralympic F32/51 discus he won one bronze medal.

Personal life

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Stephen Miller was born 26 May 1980,[1] in Cramlington, Northumberland.[2] He started participating in athletics at the age of 11. He joined an after-school club, where he met Paralympian Norman Burns. Burns would later become his coach.[3]

He married Rachel Toland in August 2013. He was able to walk down the aisle with her since he had hip replacement surgery the previous October, which he had delayed until after the 2012 London Paralympics.[4]

He worked part-time as a web developer at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead.[3] Miller and his wife founded SMILE Through Sport in 2013. The foundation encourages disabled people to participate in sports.[5] He currently lives in his hometown of Cramlington.[6]

Career

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1996 Paralympics

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The 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta were Miller's first Paralympic Games. He competed in the F50 club throw, winning with a distance of 25.84 metres.[7][8] At the age of 16 he became Great Britain's youngest Paralympian or Olympian track and field competitors to win a gold medal.[9]

2000 Paralympics

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He won gold in the club throw at the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney.[10]

At the 2000 Games he originally placed fourth in discus with a throw of 14.99 metres.[11] His team lodged a complaint against gold-medal winner Robert Jachimowicz, saying his disability status was improperly classified. Jachimowicz was disqualified, and Miller advanced to the bronze medal position.[12]

2004 Paralympics

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Miller competed in the F32/51 club throw at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens.[13] He won the event with a world-record breaking throw of 33.53 metres,[14] beating the record set in 2000 by over seven metres.[15] All six of his attempts would have been long enough to secure the gold medal.[16]

Miller won several medals at the Cerebral Palsy World Championships in 2005, including gold in the F32 club and gold in the F32 discus.[13][17] He won his third consecutive gold medal for club throwing at the World Championships in 2006.[3]

2008 Paralympics

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While training at the Australian Institute of Sport for the 2008 Paralympic Games, Miller broke the F32 club throw world record with a distance of 34.93 metres.[18][19] Miller had won gold in the club throw in the previous three Paralympic Games. Despite throwing for a personal best of 34.37 metres, he lost to new world-record holder Mourad Idoudi of Tunisia.[20] Miller had owned that record since 1997.[21] He finished the event with a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing.[22]

2012 Paralympics

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He was selected as captain of the men's athletics squad for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.[23] He had hip problems that required surgery to fix, and doctors thought he would take about a year to recover. He did not want to miss his home Paralympic Games in London so he competed through the pain.[9] He failed to qualify for the finals. He underwent surgery for his hip following the Games. New Paralympic Committee rules cut off his funding, as only athletes projected to medal at the next Games were funded.[24]

2016 Paralympics

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Miller won a silver medal at the 2014 European Championships.[2]

With his poor performance at the 2012 Paralympics, his goal was to be on the podium at the 2016 Paralympic Games.[25] Initially his mother, who is also his coach, did not have enough funds to travel to the Games. Former Newcastle United owner John Hall donated money to allow her to attend the event.[26] There were ten competitors in the F32 club throw, but four failed to show up to the event prior to the start time. He earned a bronze medal with a season-best throw of 31.58 metres.[27]

He also won a bronze medal at the IPC World Championships in 2017 and a silver medal at the European Championships in 2018.[1]

2020 Paralympics

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Miller started a crowdfunding campaign to facilitate training and competition opportunities in a bid to get to the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo.[28] He was not selected for the event.[29]

Retirement

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In June 2024, Miller announced he would be retiring at the end of that year's season having not made an international appearance since finishing fourth at European Championships three years earlier.[30][31]

Awards and honours

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Miller was awarded the Freedom of Gateshead on 25 June 2013.[32] He was awarded the Freedom of Gateshead. He was awarded the Freedom of Cramlington on 7 February 2014.[6]

Miller was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to sport.[33]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Stephen Miller". ParalympicsGB. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b "INTERVIEW: PARALYMPIAN STEPHEN MILLER TALKS RIO OLYMPIC HOPEFULS". Living North. April 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  3. ^ a b c "Stephen Miller Interview". United Kingdom Athletics. 5 August 2010. Archived from the original on 20 June 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  4. ^ "Paralympian Stephen Miller walks down aisle at wedding". BBC. 24 August 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  5. ^ "Triple Paralympic champion Stephen Miller to collect MBE". ITV. 13 May 2016. Archived from the original on 22 October 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  6. ^ a b Scott, Sarah (7 February 2014). "Paralympian Stephen Miller awarded the Freedom of Cramlington". Archived from the original on 5 February 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  7. ^ "Results archive: Athletics – Men's Club Throw F50". International Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 28 January 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  8. ^ Ramsay, Alix (26 August 1996). "Britain stay with pace in medal hunt". The Times. London, England. p. 23.
  9. ^ a b Gatward, Matt (6 September 2016). "Paralympics 2016: Team GB's Stephen Miller ready for sixth Games after late intervention". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  10. ^ "Results Archive: Athletics – Men's Club Throw F51". International Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 1 February 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  11. ^ "Results Archive: Athletics – Men's Discus Throw F51". Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 28 January 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  12. ^ O'Reilly, Noel (25 October 2000). "Golden moments for Shelley and Leahy". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  13. ^ a b "Another gold for Miller". BBC. 12 July 2005. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018.
  14. ^ "Q&A: Stephen Miller". BBC. 28 October 2004. Archived from the original on 27 August 2006.
  15. ^ "Tributes for Paralympic champion". BBC. 23 September 2004. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  16. ^ "Miller collects club gold". BBC. 21 September 2004. Archived from the original on 18 October 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  17. ^ "GB athletes claim victories in US". BBC. 11 July 2005. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  18. ^ "Miller secures new world record". BBC. 29 January 2007. Archived from the original on 15 October 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  19. ^ Hudson, Elizabeth (10 January 2007). "Miller ready for Australian camp". BBC. Archived from the original on 19 February 2007. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  20. ^ "Miller's Paralympic gold run ends". BBC. 15 September 2008. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  21. ^ Hodgson, Barbara (8 August 2016). "Paralympian Stephen Miller appeals for help to make Rio dream possible for his coach – mother Ros". Chronicle Live. Archived from the original on 17 March 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  22. ^ "GB select Beijing athletics squad". BBC. 13 June 2008. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018.
  23. ^ "Paralympics 2012: Hinton & Miller are GB athletics captains". BBC Sport. 25 August 2012. Archived from the original on 26 August 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  24. ^ "Paralympian Stephen Miller to continue without funding". BBC. 14 November 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  25. ^ Whittington, Jessica (2 February 2017). "London 2017: Stephen Miller's motivation". Athletics Weekly. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  26. ^ "Stephen Miller wins bronze in Rio at sixth Paralympics". The Northern Echo. 13 September 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  27. ^ "Bronze delight for Paralympic star Stephen at Rio". News Post Leader. 13 September 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  28. ^ Wilson, Scott (16 July 2019). "Miller needs some financial help ahead of Tokyo 2020". The Northern Echo. Archived from the original on 17 July 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  29. ^ "Disappointment as Stephen Miller isn't selected for 'dream' seventh Paralympic games". ITV. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  30. ^ "Three-time Paralympic champion Miller to retire". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  31. ^ "Paralympic champion Stephen Miller announces retirement from Para athletics at end of 2024 season". ITV. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  32. ^ "Paralympian Stephen Miller to be awarded Freedom of Gateshead". BBC. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  33. ^ "No. 61450". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2015. p. N22.
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