Curtis McGrath

Curtis McGrath

2016 Australian Paralympic Team Portrait
Personal information
Nationality	Australia
Born	(1988-03-31) 31 March 1988 (age 28) New Zealand
Medal record Paracanoe Paralympic Games 2016 Rio Men's KL2 M 200m ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships 2014 Moscow Men's V–1 200 m VL2 2015 Milan Men's V–1 200 m VL2 2015 Milan Men's K–1 200 m VL2 2016 Duisburg Men's KL2 M 200m 2016 Duisburg Men's VL2 M 200m

Curtis Wain McGrath OAM (born 31 March 1988) is an Australian paracanoeist who took up canoeing competitively after having both of his legs amputated as a result of a mine blast whilst serving in the Australian Army in Afghanistan. McGrath won two gold medals at the 2016 ICF Paracanoe World Championships. He won the gold medal in the Men's KL2 at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

McGrath was born on 31 March 1988 in New Zealand. His parents are Kimberley and Paul, and has two siblings – Brent and Sophia. He grew up in Queenstown, New Zealand and attended Wakatipu High School. As a ten year old, his farming family moved to the Western Australian Wheatbelt but then returned to Queenstown. In his last year at high school, he was awarded the Bruce Grant Memorial Trophy for Outdoor Education. His family relocated to Brisbane, Queensland. McGrath had a desire to a jet pilot but became a combat engineer.

He joined the Australian Army in 2006. On the 23rd of August 2012, as a combat engineer with the 6th Engineer Support Regiment, he was badly injured by an Improvised explosive device during operations in Khas Urozgan District, Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan. The explosion resulted in McGrath losing his left leg below the knee and his right leg at the knee. He suffered shattered bones in his wrist, burnt left arm, perforated ear drums and large wound at the back of his thigh. He was originally taken to an American medical base in Germany and then to Royal Brisbane Hospital for rehabilitation. Within three months, he was walking on prosthetic legs.