Steve Graham

Steve Graham was an Australian Paralympic winter sport coach. He was head coach of Australia's Winter Paralympic team for the 1994 Winter Paralympics, 2006 Winter Paralympics, 2010 Winter Paralympics and 2014 Winter Paralympics. As of 2014, after the Sochi winter Paralympics Graham ceased to be the current head coach of the Australian Paralympic Committee's Winter Paralympic program.

Steve Graham
Personal information
Nationality Australia
Born23 January 1962
Palm Beach, Queensland

Personal

Graham was born on 23 January 1962 in Palm Beach, Queensland. His hobbies include doing yoga and going to the beach.[1]

Coaching
Steve Graham and skier Lincoln Budge at the 2012 IPC NorAm Cup

Graham is a skiing coach for Paralympic athletes whose focus is coaching on sitting, standing and vision impaired skiers.[2] His coaching philosophy involves athletes training hard every day as if the next day they would be competing in an event.[3] He mentored and coached Michael Milton, Australia's first Winter Paralympics medallist.[1][4] Milton gave one of the gold medals he earned at the 2002 Winter Paralympics to Graham.[4][5] Graham also coached Jessica Gallagher, Australia's first female Winter Paralympic medallist,[3] and Cameron Rahles Rahbula and Toby Kane.[6] He helped the Australian ski team finish sixth at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships in Korea in 2009,[1] where two athletes that he coached individually, Cameron Rahles‐Rahbula and Shannon Dallas, finished in first place.[1][7] Other athletes he has coached include Mitchell Gourley, who finished first in the giant slalom event at Australian National Skiing Championships.[8]

Graham was the assistant coach for the team at the 1992 Winter Paralympics.[1] He then became head coach of Australia's Winter Paralympic team for the 1994 Winter Paralympics, 2006 Winter Paralympics, 2010 Winter Paralympics and the 2014 Winter Paralympics.[1] In 2003, he was named the Australian Paralympic Committee’s Winter Paralympic Program head coach,[1] and in 2010 signed a four-year deal to remain on in the position.[9] As of 2014, Graham is the current head coach of the Australian Paralympic Committee's Winter Paralympic program.[2] According to an interview published on the Australian Paralympic Committee site, his immediate priority was to prepare athletes for the 2014 Winter Paralympics, while at the same time working to insure the Australian winter sport program will be competitive for the 2018 Winter Paralympics.[10] Part of the effort involves having an athlete retention of seventy-five percent.[11][9][12]

Graham has spoken out against the classification system used by the International Paralympic Committee when it comes to classifying skiers. He felt the system was unfair. In an interview with Cerebral Palsy Australia, he said "We have three of the best 5 or 6 skiers in the world in the standing class and in the old system we would’ve won 8 or 10 medals. The new system definitely affected the Australian team achieving its medal goals.”[13]

Recognition

In 2010, Graham was a finalist the Coach of the Year award given by the Australian Institute of Sport.[14] That same year, Graham was also named by Australian Paralympic Committee as the Coach of the Year.[15]

References
  1. "Steve Graham". Vancouver, Canada: Australian Paralympic Committee. 2010. Archived from the original on 23 August 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  2. "Paralympic Alpine Skiing Home". Australian Institute of Sport. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  3. "Gallagher first Aussie first winter Paralympic medallist". The Age. 15 March 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  4. "Take It To The Limit - Transcript". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 10 March 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  5. "NC 2002 08 27 TCN 6 p.m. news 16 Mar 2002 Michael Milton wins 4th gold medal at Paralympics". ITN. 2002. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  6. "Camperdown athlete flies the flag at the Paralympics". Western Australia, Australia: WIN TV. 22 March 2010. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  7. Australian Paralympic Committee. "Australia at the Winter Paralympic Games" (PDF). Sydney, Australia: Toyota Australia. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  8. "Mitchell Gourley". Australian Paralympic Committee. 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  9. Lewis, Daniel (23 March 2010). "Its onward and upward for our Paralympic team". Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, Australia. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  10. "PyeongChang will embrace Paralympic ideals: Hartung". Australian Paralympic Committee. 2011. Archived from the original on 5 August 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  11. Caruana, Patrick (22 March 2010). "Two hailed for Paralympic Games effort". Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, Australia. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  12. "Two hailed for Paralympic Games effort". Sydney, Australia: Sydney Morning Herald. 22 March 2010. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  13. "Skier Conquers Hill". Cerebral Palsy Australia. Archived from the original on 21 August 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  14. "AIS Athlete of the Year Finalists named". Australian Olympic Committee. 11 November 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  15. "Paralympian of the Year Awards". Australian Paralympic Committee. 2011. Archived from the original on 8 May 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
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