Stephen "Steve" Morris (born 13 September 1988) is a paralympic athlete from Cardiff, Wales. He competes in middle distance events in the T20 classification and represented Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.

Steve Morris
Personal information
Birth nameStephen Morris
Born (1988-09-13) 13 September 1988 (age 36)
Cardiff, Wales
Sport
Country Great Britain
SportTrack and field
Disability classT20
Event(s)800m, 1500m
ClubCardiff Athletics Club
TeamGreat Britain
Coached byPaula Dunn (national)
James Thie (personal)
Achievements and titles
Paralympic finals2012 London
World finals2013 Lyon

Personal history

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Stephen Morris was born in Cardiff in 1988.[1] He was diagnosed with dyspraxia at the age of three.[2] He attended Whitchurch High School in Cardiff, in the same year group as Wales and British Lions captain Sam Warburton and Wales footballer Gareth Bale.

Athletic career

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Morris first became involved in athletics while at school and began competing in 2006.[3] Due to the events caused by the Spanish basketball team at the Sydney Paralympics, Morris' classification was removed from the Summer Games itinerary.[4] T20 athletes were reintroduced for the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, and Morris was selected to represent Great Britain in the 1,500-metre race. There were no heats for the race and the final was held on 4 September in a field of 11 athletes. Morris finished sixth with a time of 4:02.50.[3] His personal best of 3:58.93, that he set two months earlier at the BMC Grand Prix in Stretford, would have been good enough for the silver medal position.[1]

In 2013 Morris was again chosen to represent Great Britain, this time at the IPC World Championships in Lyon in the 1,500m (T20), finishing in eighth place.[3] Although Morris did not attend 2014 European Championships, he was selected for the 2016 IPC Athletics European Championships in Grosseto. He competed in both the 800 metres and 1,500m finishing fourth and fifth respectively.[3][5] In the build up to the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, Morris recorded personal bests in the 800m (1:56.06) (British Record) and 1,500m (3:56.24) (European Record) both set in July.[1] In late July Morris was confirmed as a member of the Great Britain team to compete at the Rio Paralympics.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Stephen Morris". powerof10.info. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  2. ^ "THE BIG INTERVIEW WITH: STEPHEN MORRIS, PARALYMPIC RUNNER". Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d "Morris, Stephen". IPC. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  4. ^ Longmore, Andrew (26 August 2012). "The disability you cannot see". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  5. ^ "Morris fourth as European champions Weir, Chiassaro and Jomni progress to finals". britishathletics.org.uk. 13 June 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  6. ^ "Paralympics GB Track and Field Line-up Confirmed for Rio 2016". paralympics.org.uk. 26 June 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
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