Tim Matthews

I was born without my left arm, but from a young age I played, and did pretty well at most sports including tennis, baseball and golf.

It was not until I was 20 when I took up athletics that I discovered Paralympic sport.

Known to my mates as 'Lefty', I have won a number of medals at International level including gold in Atlanta in 1996 and two gold and two bronze medals at the Sydney Paralympics in 2000. With minor injuries over the past few years preventing me from reaching peak performance, I have decided to retire from athletics and not seek selection for the Beijing Paralympic Games. Having torn my hamstring in my first event in Athens at the 2004 Paralympics, and injury troubles in the lead up to Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, the last few years have not turned out as I had planned

Awards that I have won include; 1996 Order of Australia Medal (OAM), 2003 City of Melbourne Lord Mayor's Award, 1996 and 2001 Gippstar of the year, 2001 Bendigo Sports Star of the year. I was also given the honour of carrying the 2000 Olympic torch and lighting the community cauldron in my home town of Bairnsdale. I was also given the honour of being the final runner in Bendigo with the Queens Baton Relay leading up to the Commonwealth Games in 2006.

Now that I have retired from athletics, running under 10.72 seconds for 100metres is not an option, so my ambition is to stay involved in athletics and Paralympic Sport in some capacity and get my golf handicap down under 10 and play in a few more amputee tournaments.

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