 Action shot of Rickard running at the 2000 Summer Paralympics | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality |  Australia | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | 8 September 1971 Mona Vale, New South Wales | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||
Sam Rickard (born 8 September 1971, in Mona Vale, New South Wales) is an Australian vision impaired Paralympic athlete. He competed in four successive Paralympic Games 1988 to 2000, winning a bronze medal at the 1992 Barcelona Games.[1] His nickname was 'the Sparrow'.[citation needed]
At the 1988 Seoul Games, he competed in Men's 400m B3, Men's 800m B3 (5th) and Men's High Jump B3 (9th).[1] He competed in the World Championships and Games for the Disabled, Assen, Netherlands winning a bronze medal in the Men's 800m B3.[2]
At the 1992 Barcelona Games, he won a bronze medal in the Men's 800m B3 and competed in Men's 1500m B3 (5th).[1]
In 1994, he left the Northern Territory to accept an Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Athletes with a Disability residential scholarship in Canberra where he was coached by Chris Nunn. He departed the AIS in 1996.[3]
At the 1996 Atlanta Games, Sam competed in the Men's 400m T12 and Men's 1500m T12 (5th).[1] He was disadvantaged because the 800m, his specialist distance was dropped from the Atlanta Athletics program.[4]
Finally, 2000 Sydney Games he competed in three events – Men's 400m T13 (7th), Men's 800m T13 (4th) and Men 1500 T13 (6th).[1]
He has been a board member of Blind Sports Australia.[5]