TURNER James

Australia
Athletics
22 May 1996
25
Male
T36
PENRITH, NSW
 
Australia
BELCONNEN, ACT
 
Australia

Events and Medals

Discipline Event Rank Medal
ATH Athletics Men's 100m - T36 2 Silver Medal
Men's 400m - T36 1 Gold Medal

Records

Record Event Mark Date Location
WR Men's 100m - T36 11.72 10 November, 2019 Dubai (UAE)
WR Men's 400m - T36 51.71 14 November, 2019 Dubai (UAE)
PR Men's 400m - T36 Final 52.80 31 August, 2021 Tokyo (JPN)

Schedule

Change
Start Time Location Event Status
Olympic Stadium - Track
Men's 400m - T36 Final
Finished
Olympic Stadium - Track
Men's 100m - T36 Round 1 - Heat 1
Finished
Olympic Stadium - Track
Men's 100m - T36 Final
Finished

Biographical Information

Highlights

:
RankEventYearLocationResult
Paralympic Games
1800m - T362016Rio de Janeiro, BRA2:02.39
World Championships
1100m - T362019Dubai, UAE11.72
1400m - T362019Dubai, UAE51.71
1200m - T362017London, GBR24.09
1400m - T362017London, GBR54.27
1800m - T362017London, GBR2:08.78
:
Jimmy (Athlete, 06 Nov 2019)
:
Drawing, reading, writing. (Athlete, 06 Nov 2019)
:
Student
:
Sports Science - University of Canberra, Australia
:
English
:
ACT Para-Athletics Talent Squad [Australia]
:
Iryna Dvoskina [national, personal], UKR
:
He has played seven-a-side Para football for Australia, including at the world championships in 2015 and 2017. (Athlete, 27 Aug 2021; ifcpf.com, 11 Sep 2017; cp2015.com, 16 Jun 2015)
:
2016 for Australia, Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Athlete, 06 Nov 2019)
:
He got involved in athletics for the first time at age eight at Forster Tuncurry Little Athletics in New South Wales, Australia. He took up Para athletics in 2015. (Athlete, 27 Aug 2021; paralympic.org.au, 01 Jan 2016)
:
He switched to Para athletics after the Australian national Para football seven-a-side team failed to qualify for the 2016 Paralympic Games. (illawarramercury.com.au, 23 Jun 2020; nswathletics.org.au, 01 Aug 2016)
:
To win the T36 100m and 400m at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. (athletics.com.au, 20 Dec 2020)
:
He trains for about 20 hours a week, which includes work in the gym on stability and balance exercises. In 2020 he and coach Iryna Dvoskina altered his training schedule to include more explosive work, which they balanced with endurance sessions such as cross-country. (athletics.com.au, 20 Dec 2020; gq.com.au, 26 Aug 2019)
:
Breaking the world record in the men's T36 800m at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. (Athlete, 27 Aug 2021; db.ipc-services.org, 18 Nov 2019)
:
Australian Para sprinter Evan O'Hanlon. (Athlete, 27 Aug 2021)
:
Coach Iryna Dvoskina. (Athlete, 27 Aug 2021)
:
"I have been asked what motivates me, and it is quite a hard question to answer. It has changed over the years. It used to be fear of being a burden to the world, and while that's diminished it's still a bit there. I think now there are two main motivations. One. I love running, I love sport, I love training, I love competing. Just doing the sport is enough motivation, but it's not the only reason. Two. I have a desire to make a positive impact on the world, one that a younger version of me would appreciate. I want to show that we can all be better than what other people's imaginations allow." (Instagram profile, 01 Feb 2020)
:
In 2019/20 he was named Senior Para Athlete of the Year by Athletics New South Wales in Australia. (nswathletics.org.au, 12 May 2020)

In 2019 he was named Male Para Athlete of the Year by Athletics Australia. (Athletics Australia Facebook page, 10 Jun 2020)

In 2016 and 2017 he was named Sports Person of the Year by the University of Wollongong in Australia. (illawarramercury.com.au, 27 Oct 2017)

In January 2017 he received the Medal of the Order of Australia [OAM] in recognition of the gold medal he won at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. (paralympic.org, 28 Jan 2017)

In 2016 he was named Paralympic Rookie of the Year by the Australian Paralympic Committee [APC]. (paralympic.org, 09 Dec 2016)

In 2013 he was named Player of the Year for the 'Pararoos' - Australia's Para seven-a-side national football team. (illawarramercury.com.au, 23 Jun 2020)

General Interest

Classification
T36 (IPC, 05 Mar 2021)

Type of Impairment
Cerebral Palsy (Athlete, 06 Nov 2019)

Origin of Impairment
Congenital (Athlete, 06 Nov 2019)

Impairment Details
He has cerebral palsy. (sbs.com.au, 08 Sep 2017)

General
RIO COMEDOWN
He sought help from a sports psychologist following the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where he had won gold and broken the world record in the T36 800m. He believes his issues stemmed from childhood, when he was never able to beat the other children at school, and as a result he had promised himself that one day he would be the best at something. "I won [in Rio de Janeiro], I broke the world record and everything was the same. I wasn't profoundly changed, I was still the same guy. I came to realise that nothing that I did would fix all my problems and that was a hard realisation for me. [Winning] was the easy part. [Before it] gave me hope that I would one day be 'truly happy', and now it was gone. The time between Rio and the 2017 World Championships [in London, England] was probably the hardest time in my life. I felt useless and unhappy, and how can someone who's the best in the world feel useless and unhappy? I lost all hope. I developed unhealthy and self-destructive habits. I almost didn't get through it. I now promise myself that I'll always have a new dream, and that it'll be one I have no right to achieve. That way, I'll always have a reason to keep going." (paralympic.org, 03 May 2018; Instagram profile, 01 Sep 2019)

FURTHER EDUCATION
He has also studied at the University of Wollongong in Australia. (athletics.com.au, 01 Feb 2017)

Legend
:
Gold Medal
:
Silver Medal
:
Gold Medal Event
:
Silver Medal Event
:
Bronze Medal Event
PR:
Paralympic Record
WR:
World Record
Content 1 (removed through CDN)
Content 2 (removed through CDN).
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