Clare Griffiths
Clare Griffiths at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro
Personal information
Nationality Great Britain
Born (1979-09-18) 18 September 1979
High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
Height167 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Weight56 kg (8 st 11 lb)
Sport
CountryGreat Britain
SportWheelchair basketball
Disability class1.5
EventWomen's team
ClubCoyotes
Medal record
Wheelchair basketball
European Championships
Bronze medal – third place1999 Roermond, NetherlandsWomen's wheelchair basketball
Bronze medal – third place2003 Hamburg, GermanyWomen's wheelchair basketball
Bronze medal – third place2007 Wetzlar, NetherlandsWomen's wheelchair basketball
Bronze medal – third place2009 Stoke Mandeville, United KingdomWomen's wheelchair basketball
Bronze medal – third place2011 Nazareth, IsraelWomen's wheelchair basketball
Bronze medal – third place2013 Frankfurt, GermanyWomen's wheelchair basketball
Bronze medal – third place2015 Worcester, United KingdomWomen's wheelchair basketball

Clare Griffiths née Strange (born 18 September 1979) is a 1.5 point British wheelchair basketball player who represented Great Britain at the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Paralympic Games.

Biography

Clare Strange was born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, on 18 September 1979,[1][2] the daughter of Jeremy and Caroline Strange.[3] She played county hockey, and represented her school in the National Indoor Championships. She also rode horses,[4] representing southern England at the Mounted Games in 1996 and 1997.[2] In 1997, she broke her back in a fall from a horse, rendering her paraplegic.[5] She was introduced to wheelchair basketball during rehabilitation at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. A year later, she made her international debut as a 1.5 point player for Team Great Britain at the Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Sydney, Australia.[4]

Since then, Strange, who married Daniel Griffiths on 13 July 2013 at St Mary's Church in Radnage,[3] and is now known as Clare Griffiths, has represented Britain at the 2000 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Paralympic Games. In London in 2012, she was co-captain of the team, along with Louise Sugden.[4] In Rio de Janeiro in 2016, although no longer captain, she was, at 36, the oldest member of the side.[6] She also earned seven bronze medals at European championships, and played professional wheelchair basketball in Italy with Sardinia Sassari, one of the first British women to do so.[4] She also earned a bachelor's degree in Sport and Exercise Science from Loughborough University in 2003.[4]

In May 2016, she was named as part of the team for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.[7] The British team produced its best ever performance at the Paralympics, making it all the way to the semi-finals, but lost to the semi-final to the United States, and then the bronze medal match to the Netherlands.[8]

Achievements

References

  1. ↑ "Clare Strange - Paralympics GB - London 2012 Olympics". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Athlete Bio: Griffiths, Clare". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Daniel Griffiths Clare Strange : Wedding". Lancaster Guardian. 2 August 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 "Clare Griffiths". British Wheelchair Basketball. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  5. ↑ "A Strange guide to wheelchair hoops". BBC. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  6. ↑ "Rio Paralympics: Clare Griffiths set for fifth Games". 13 May 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  7. ↑ "British women's wheelchair basketball team named for Rio". International Paralympic Committee. 13 May 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  8. ↑ Berkeley, Geoff (17 September 2016). "University of Worcester-based GB women's wheelchair basketball team miss out on bronze medal to dominant Dutch in Rio Paralympics". Worcester News. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  9. ↑ "Germany earn 10th women's European Wheelchair Basketball Championship title as hosts Britain win men's gold". Inside the Games. 6 September 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
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