Eric Boulter
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| Nationality |  Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 15 October 1952 Melbourne, Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Eric Boulter (born 15 October 1952) is an Australian swimmer, athlete, and wheelchair basketball player who won two medals at the 1972 Heidelberg Paralympics.
Personal
[edit]Boulter was born in Melbourne on 15 October 1952.[1] While on a cycling holiday on the Gold Coast in 1969, he had a fall at the Nerang Velodrome which left him paraplegic.[1] Outside of sport, Boulter worked for a speedboat charter business until 1984 before serving his local city council for 22 years. He moved to Rockhampton in 2012.[2]
Competitive career
[edit]Boulter temporarily checked out of hospital to represent Queensland in his first National Disabled Championships in 1970. He then returned to the Gold Coast and searched for a coach. He found Dave Tomlinson, who worked with him for the rest of his career.[1] He was the captain of the Australian swimming team at the 1972 Heidelberg Paralympics, where he won a gold medal in the Men's 25 m Backstroke 2 event, in which he broke a world record, and a silver medal in the Men's 3x25 m Medley 2 event; he also came fifth in the Men's 25 m Freestyle 2 – event.[1][3] He was also the captain of the Australian swimming team at the 1974 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in Dunedin, New Zealand, where he won two gold medals in the Men's 25 m Backstroke and Men's 4x50 m Medley Relay events, and two silver medals in the Men's 25 m Freestyle and Men's 3x25 m Individual Medley events; he broke a Commonwealth record in the backstroke.[1] At the 1977 FESPIC Games in Sydney, he won a gold medal in the Men's 25 m Backstroke event and two silver medals in the Men's 25 m Freestyle and Men's Pentathlon events.[1] He also played wheelchair basketball, representing Queensland in national championships from 1976 until his retirement from sport in 1984.[1]
Recognition
[edit]Boulter was inducted into the Gold Coast Sporting Hall of Fame in 1999.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h "Eric Boulter". Gold Coast Sporting Hall of Fame. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
- ^ Sygall, David (23 July 2020). "The World Record That Wasn't". Paralympics Australia. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
- ^ "Boulter". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
- Australian men's wheelchair basketball players
- Male Paralympic swimmers for Australia
- Swimmers at the 1972 Summer Paralympics
- Medalists at the 1972 Summer Paralympics
- Paralympic gold medalists for Australia
- Paralympic silver medalists for Australia
- Paralympic medalists in swimming
- Wheelchair category Paralympic competitors
- People with paraplegia
- Australian male freestyle swimmers
- Australian male backstroke swimmers
- Swimmers from Melbourne
- Sportsmen from Victoria (state)
- 20th-century Australian sportsmen
- 1952 births
- Living people