Kieran Modra
Kieran John Modra AM (born 27 March 1972) is a visually impaired Australian Paralympic swimmer and tandem cyclist. He has won five gold and five bronze medals at eight Paralympic Games from 1988 to 2016, along with two silver medals at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Modra was born in Port Lincoln, South Australia, on 27 March 1972, and has been visually impaired since birth. His sister is Tania Modra, who piloted Sarnya Parker in tandem cycling at the 2000 Sydney Games, where the pair won two gold medals. He married Kerry Modra (née Golding) in May 1997, who he met at a friend's 21st birthday party, and they have three children.
Modra began pole vaulting in 1987 and won the pole vaulting competition at the 1989 Australian All-School Championships. He competed in athletics at the 1988 Seoul Paralympics where he competed in the Men's 1500 m B3 and Men's Javelin B3. He took up swimming to aid his recovery from a knee injury, and began competing in the sport in 1990. At the 1992 Paralympics in Barcelona,where he competed in both athletics and swimming, he won two bronze medals in the Men's 100 m Backstroke B3 and Men's 200 m Backstroke B3 events.
Modra then switched to road and track cycle racing in 1995, because it was a "mode of transport". At the 1996 Atlanta Games, where he was piloted by his future wife Kerry Golding, he won a gold medal in the Mixed 200 m Sprint Tandem open event. In 1998 and 1999, he held an Australian Institute of Sport Athletes with a Disability scholarship. At the 1998 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Colorado Springs with pilot Kerry Modra, he won gold medals in the Mixed Tandem Sprint B, Mixed Tandem Time Trial B and Mixed Individual Pursuit B. He competed in the 2000 Sydney Games, but did not win any medals at those Games. Modra's pilot, Kerry, was pregnant with the couple's first child at the games, and fainted due to low blood pressure during a quarter-final sprint race; Modra's sister, Tania, was his pilot for the rest of the games. At the 2002 IPC World Cycling Championships in Altenstadt, Germany with pilot Darren Harry, he won gold medals in the Men's Tandem Sprint Time Trial and Men's Tandem 1 km Time Trial.
...
Wikipedia