SMITH David

Date of Birth: 2 Mar 1989

Age: 32

Gender: Male

Sport Class: BC1

Place of birth: SOUTHAMPTON

Birth Country:

Great Britain

Place of residence : SWANSEA

Residence Country:

Great Britain

Events and Medals
Records
Schedule
Bio
General Interest
Milestones

Events and Medals

Discipline	Event	Rank	Medal
Boccia	Individual - BC1	1
	Team - BC1/BC2 GBR Great Britain	8

Schedule

Start Time	Location	Event	Status
	Ariake Gymnastics Centre - Court 1	Individual - BC1 Pool A #7 GBR SMITH DSMITH David Sport Class: BC1 7 CHN ZHANG QZHANG Qi Sport Class: BC1 1	Finished
	Ariake Gymnastics Centre - Court 3	Individual - BC1 Pool A #57 GBR SMITH DSMITH David Sport Class: BC1 4 ARG IBARBURE MIBARBURE Mauricio Sport Class: BC1 3	Finished
	Ariake Gymnastics Centre - Court 5	Individual - BC1 Pool A #83 GBR SMITH DSMITH David Sport Class: BC1 5 MEX SANCHEZ REYES ESANCHEZ REYES Eduardo Sport Class: BC1 7	Finished
	Ariake Gymnastics Centre - Court 4	Individual - BC1 Pool A #130 GBR SMITH DSMITH David Sport Class: BC1 11 JPN NAKAMURA TNAKAMURA Takumi Sport Class: BC1 1	Finished
	Ariake Gymnastics Centre - Court 4	Individual - BC1 Quarterfinal 1 #160 GBR SMITH DSMITH David Sport Class: BC1 6 THA HUADPRADIT WHUADPRADIT Witsanu Sport Class: BC1 1	Finished
	Ariake Gymnastics Centre - Court 4	Individual - BC1 Semifinal 1 #168 GBR SMITH DSMITH David Sport Class: BC1 7 BRA de OLIVEIRA JCCde OLIVEIRA Jose Carlos Chagas Sport Class: BC1 4	Finished
	Ariake Gymnastics Centre - Court 4	Individual - BC1 Gold Medal Match #175 GBR SMITH DSMITH David Sport Class: BC1 4 MAS WEI LUN CWEI LUN Chew Sport Class: BC1 2	Finished
	Ariake Gymnastics Centre - Court 3	Team - BC1/BC2 Pool A #180 CHN China 11 GBR Great Britain 7	Finished
	Ariake Gymnastics Centre - Court 3	Team - BC1/BC2 Pool A #191 THA Thailand 9 GBR Great Britain 2	Finished
	Ariake Gymnastics Centre - Court 2	Team - BC1/BC2 Pool A #214 GBR Great Britain 6 ARG Argentina 4	Finished
	Ariake Gymnastics Centre - Court 6	Team - BC1/BC2 Pool A #230 RPC RPC 10 GBR Great Britain 3	Finished

Biographical Information

Highlights

Rank	Event	Year	Location
Paralympic Games
1	Individual - BC1	2016	Rio de Janeiro, BRA
1	Team - BC1/BC2	2008	Beijing, CHN
2	Individual - BC1	2012	London, GBR
3	Team - BC1/BC2	2012	London, GBR
8	Team - BC1/BC2	2016	Rio de Janeiro, BRA
9	Individual - BC1	2008	Beijing, CHN
World Championships
1	Individual - BC1	2018	Liverpool, GBR
1	Individual - BC1	2014	Beijing, CHN
3	Team - BC1/BC2	2014	Beijing, CHN
3	Team - BC1/BC2	2006	Rio de Janeiro, BRA
6	Individual - BC1	2010	Lisbon, POR
9	Team - BC1/BC2	2018	Liverpool, GBR
14	Individual - BC1	2006	Rio de Janeiro, BRA
European Championships
1	Individual - BC1	2019	Seville, ESP
1	Individual - BC1	2017	Povoa de Varzim, POR
3	Team - BC1/BC2	2019	Seville, ESP
7	Team - BC1/BC2	2017	Povoa de Varzim, POR

Smithy (Athlete, 22 Aug 2021)

Occupation:

Aerospace Engineering - Swansea University, Great Britain

Wife Barbara Staniszewska

Languages spoken:

Swansea Boccia Club [Great Britain]

Glynn Tromans [national], GBR

He first picked up some basic boccia skills at age six during a physical education class at Cedar School in Southampton, England. He began getting regular training and coaching at age 11 when he moved to Treloar School in Alton, England. (Athlete, 22 Aug 2021; disabilityhorizons.com, 17 Dec 2012; telegraph.co.uk, 30 Jul 2012)

He was encouraged to take up the sport seriously at high school. "I started playing at primary school. I went to a specialist school for people with impairments and at that time they were pretty hot regarding anything sporty. It was a good place to be and boccia was one of the sports that we played. It took me a while to fall in love with it as initially I was rubbish. I didn't win an end for almost five years. To be honest, representing Great Britain wasn't in my psyche. My high school took Para sport seriously and I was given countless opportunities to achieve. Eventually, I had my first taste of success in boccia and I started enjoying it." (paralympic.org, 02 Apr 2016; ablemagazine.co.uk, 01 Jan 2015)

Winning gold at the Paralympic Games in 2008 and 2016. (Athlete, 22 Aug 2021)

His grandfather. (Athlete, 22 Aug 2021)

Philosophy:

"Play with freedom." (Athlete, 22 Aug 2021)

He was named a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire [MBE] in the 2017 New Year's Honours list, for services to boccia. (southwales-eveningpost.co.uk, 05 Jan 2017)

In 2013 he received the Freedom of the Borough of Eastleigh in England. (eastleigh.gov.uk, 10 Jun 2015)

He was named Sportsperson with an Impairment of the Year at the 2007 BBC South Sports Awards. (bbc.co.uk, 04 Dec 2007)

General Interest

Classification
BC1 (worldboccia.com, 02 Aug 2021)

Type of Impairment
Cerebral Palsy (telegraph.co.uk, 08 Sep 2012)

Impairment Details
He has cerebral palsy. (telegraph.co.uk, 08 Sep 2012)

General
LOST CHAIR
In 2020 the wheelchair he used in everyday life, and which was worth 7500 GBP, was lost while in for repair. For a period he had to use his competition wheelchair for day-to-day activities. "That's not ideal as it's meant for sitting in for two hours not all day, every day. My other chair was specially designed so it clips into my car so I can drive. It's also not as comfortable when you're sat down, relaxing during an evening. They could not give me a straight answer. I received a phone call from the manager saying they had no idea where my chair was and that they had not been able to work on it. If this were a car, the issue would be resolved at once, yet a wheelchair, which is essentially my legs, is somehow inferior." (bbc.co.uk, 06 Oct 2020)

Milestones

He became the first British boccia player to win gold at the world championships when he was victorious in the individual BC1 mixed event at the 2014 edition in Beijing, People's Republic of China. (SportsDeskOnline, 31 Mar 2020; boccia.uk.com, 02 Aug 2021)

Social Media

Legend

:: Gold Medal
:: Gold Medal Event
:: Silver Medal Event
:: Bronze Medal Event

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