George Swindlehurst

George Henry Swindlehurst MBE (1925-2009), also known as Ginger, was a former Paralympic athlete from Great Britain who competed in the early editions of the Paralympic Games, taking part in table tennis and wheelchair basketball. He was born in 1925 in Stockport.

He enlisted in the Coldstream Guards in 1943 at the age of 18. Whilst serving his country in Arnhem, Holland he was shot in the back and paralysed.

Paralympics career

In 1960, in Rome, Swindlehurst competed in the first Summer Paralympics as part of the men's wheelchair basketball team where he and the British team won silver in Men's Tournament Class A and he won bronze in men's doubles table tennis. In the 1964 Games in Tokyo, Swindlehurst won silver medals in both sports.

He competed in the men's wheelchair basketball tournaments right up to 1972. At the end of his sporting career he was awarded a Gold Medal Triad in 2000, as well as receiving an MBE.

References

Paralympic athletes for Great Britain

Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain

Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain

Sportspeople from Stockport

1925 births

2009 deaths

Members of the Order of the British Empire

Medalists at the 1960 Summer Paralympics

Medalists at the 1964 Summer Paralympics

Paralympic medalists in table tennis

Paralympic medalists in wheelchair basketball

Table tennis players at the 1960 Summer Paralympics

Table tennis players at the 1964 Summer Paralympics

Wheelchair basketball players at the 1960 Summer Paralympics

Wheelchair basketball players at the 1964 Summer Paralympics

Paralympic wheelchair basketball players for Great Britain