Judith_Hamer

Judith Hamer

Judith Hamer

British wheelchair basketball player

Judith Hamer (born 3 December 1990) is a 4.0 point British wheelchair basketball player who represented Great Britain at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympic Games. She won a Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Award for bravery and trekked across the Andes Mountains in Ecuador as part of a reality television show, Beyond Boundaries.

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Biography

Judith Hamer was born in Plymouth on 3 December 1990,[1][2] with a short thigh bone in her right leg. She could walk wearing crutches and special shoes. After some 18 operations over thirteen years to attempt to correct it, and with her GCSE exams approaching, she told the doctors that enough was enough. In 2006 she had her right leg amputated below the knee.[1][3] She won a Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Award for bravery.[citation needed] A few months later, she hiked across the Andes Mountains in Ecuador as part of a reality television show, Beyond Boundaries.[3]

The idea of playing sport had not been uppermost in her mind, but in 2007 she became interested in wheelchair basketball. She attended a UK Sport Talent Day, and began playing for a local club in Exeter, the Otters in 2007, as a 4.0 point player. The Lord's Taverners gave her a £2,000 custom-made wheelchair basketball chair. in 2009, she made her international debut at the Paralympic World Cup.[4] She played with the national side at the European championships, at which they won bronze. They went on to win bronze again in 2011, 2013 and 2015.[2][3]

Hamer won bronze at the Women's U25 World Championships in St Catharines, Ontario in 2011, and silver at the Women's U25 European Championships in 2013. She was also part of the team at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.[2] "I think we may be at our best for Rio in 2016," she told reporters beforehand, "but 2012 will be the biggest thing I ever do, and I won't be able to play at a home Paralympics ever again."[3]

The British women's wheelchair basketball team came 7th in London; but Hamer, now a biochemistry student at the University of Worcester,[2] was selected as part of the team for the 2016 Paralympic Games.[5] The British team produced its best ever performance at the Paralympics, making it to the semi-finals, but lost to the United States, and then the bronze medal match to the Netherlands.[6]

Personal life

Hamer is engaged to Lauren Rowles, a parasport rower.[7]

Achievements

References

  1. [1]
    "Judith Hamer". Sporting Champions. Archived from the original on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  2. [2]
    "Judith Hamer". British Wheelchair Basketball. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  3. [3]
    Bateman, Colin (27 August 2012). "Paralympian Judith Hamer: Sport has changed my life". Daily Express. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  4. [4]
    Onwuazor, Chudi (15 December 2011). "London Olympic hopefuls: Judith Hamer". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  5. [5]
    "Hamer Jude". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 14 September 2016.[dead link]
  6. [6]
    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.
  7. [7]
    "These 2 Paralympians started dating during Covid. Now they're heading to Tokyo". 11 August 2021.
  8. [8]
    "Germany earn 10th women's European Wheelchair Basketball Championship title as hosts Britain win men's gold". Inside the Games. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  9. [9]
    "Judith Hamer". British Wheelchair Basketball. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  10. [10]
    "NED v GBR". FIBA LiveStats. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
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