Claire McLean (born 4 July 1973)[1] is an Australian Paralympic cyclist and paratriathlete. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics when paratriathlon made its debut at the Paralympics.[2]
 2016 Rio Paralympic Games - Triathlon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality |  Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 4 July 1973 Cottesloe, Western Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Career
editMcLean was born in Cottesloe, Western Australia in 1973. She damaged her arm in a motor cycle accident when she was nineteen.[3]
She won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Games in the Women's Bicycle Time Trial LC1-4/CP 3/4 event.[4] She has since won several Paracycling World Championship and World Cup medals in the C5 classification.[5]
As a TRI-4 (arm impaired) paratriathlete, she placed 3rd in her first International paratriathlon race, the 2012 ITU Paratriathlon World Championships.[6] At the 2014 ITU World Triathlon Series Final in Edmonton, Canada, she finished seventh in the Women's PT4.[7] In January 2015, McLean won the Oceania Paratriathlon Championships PT4 event at Penrith, New South Wales.[8] McLean finished eighth at the 2015 World Triathlon Series Women's P4 Final in Chicago.[9]
McLean failed to be selected for the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London and decided to switch to the new triathlete sport.[3] She did represent Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics when paratriathlon made its debut at the Paralympics.[2]
McLean finished ninth in PT4 at the 2016 Rio Paralympics Games.[10] In reflection on her performance throughout the Paralympics McLean says "Without that big goal I feel a little bit lost. I think everyone needs to have something to aim towards, to seek some sort of personal improvement, whether it’s physically, spiritually, psychologically or just being a good person on a day to day basis. It’s what keeps me going."[11]
References
edit- ^ Media guide : Athens 2004 (PDF). Sydney: Australian Paralympic Committee. 2004.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b "DEBUTANT PARATRIATHLETES PUT ICING ON THE RIO CAKE". Triathlon Australia website. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
- ^ a b Western Australians Brant Garvey and Claire McLean named in seven-strong Australian Rio para-triathlon squad, 3 August 2016, PerthNow, Retrieved 12 September 2016
- ^ "Claire McLean". Paralympic.org. International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
- ^ "Clare McLean". Cycling Australia. Archived from the original on 19 March 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
- ^ "2012 Barfoot&Thompson World Triathlon Grand Final Auckland : Paratriathlon Female TRI-4 : Results". International Triathlon Union. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
- ^ "Results". 2014 ITU Grand Final Edmonton website. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
- ^ "Paratriathletes brave rain swept Neapean to Conquer Oceania Championships". Triathlon Australia News, 13 January 2013. Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
- ^ "2015 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Chicago : Sep 18 2015 : Women's PT4 : Results". International Triathlon Union. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
- ^ "Claire McLean". Rio Paralympics Official Site. Archived from the original on 22 September 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
- ^ "Claire McLean Faces her fear and now going for gold". Triathlon Australia. Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2016.