Curtis Lovejoy (May 13, 1957 – March 11, 2021) was an American Paralympic swimmer.[1][2] In 2000, he won the gold medal in the men's 50 metre freestyle S2 and the men's 100 metre freestyle S2 events at the Summer Paralympics held in Sydney, Australia. He also won two medals in swimming at the 2004 Summer Paralympics held in Athens, Greece. He also competed in wheelchair fencing.
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | May 13, 1957 Atlanta, Georgia, United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | March 11, 2021 (aged 63) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classifications | S2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Early life
editIn 1986, Lovejoy was paralyzed from the neck down after a car accident.[3][4] He took up swimming as therapy after his accident.
Career
editIn 2009, Lovejoy won the gold medal in the men's 50 metre freestyle S3 event at the 2009 IPC Swimming World Championships 25 m held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with a new world record of 55.77s.[5] He also won the bronze medal in the men's 4×50 m freestyle relay 20 pts event.[5] Lovejoy was inducted into the Georgia Aquatics Hall of Fame in 2013.[6]
In 2015, Lovejoy competed in swimming at the Parapan American Games held in Toronto, Canada.[7] He won the silver medal in the mixed 4 x 50 metre freestyle relay 20pts event. Lovejoy was also the flag bearer for the United States during the opening ceremony of the 2015 Parapan American Games.[7] In 2019, he was inducted into the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame.[8]
He died on March 11, 2021.[9] He retired earlier in 2021 after being diagnosed with a form of blood cancer.[10]
References
edit- ^ "Curtis Lovejoy - IPC Athlete Bio". ipc.infostradasports.com. March 31, 2021.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Planos, Josh (October 19, 2015). "For Paralympian Curtis Lovejoy, '86 car accident was "one of the best things that's ever happened to me."". Atlanta Magazine. Archived from the original on February 23, 2019. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
- ^ "Curtis Lovejoy". Team USA. Archived from the original on October 21, 2020. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
- ^ Dziak, Mark (March 14, 2021). "Curtis Lovejoy, 2-time Paralympic Gold Medalist Dies at 63". SwimSwam. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
- ^ a b "Swimming Rio 2009: Results". Archived from the original on December 3, 2009. Retrieved December 1, 2009.
- ^ "Shepherd Center Paralympic Athlete Inducted into Georgia Aquatics Hall of Fame". Shepherd Center. August 26, 2013. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
- ^ a b Pavitt, Michael (August 7, 2015). "Curtis Lovejoy announced as United States flag bearer for Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games Opening Ceremony". InsideTheGames.biz. Archived from the original on January 3, 2020. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
- ^ "Five-Time Paralympian Curtis Lovejoy Officially Inducted Into The Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame". Al Rucker Show. February 6, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
- ^ Kortemeier, Todd (March 12, 2021). "Five-Time Paralympian Curtis Lovejoy Passes Away At 63". Team USA. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
- ^ Pavitt, Michael (March 14, 2021). "Two-time Paralympic champion Lovejoy dies aged 63". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
External links
edit- Curtis Lovejoy at Paralympic.org
- Curtis Lovejoy at Team USA (archived)
