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David John Smith OBE (born 2 March 1989 in Eastleigh) is a Paralympian who made his Paralympic debut on the British boccia team that won the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics. He competed for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics[1] and did so winning Bronze in the Team BC1–2.[2] and Silver in the BC1 individual event watched by a record Boccia crowd at the Excel arena. David competed for Paralympics GB for a third time in Rio where he won Gold in the individual BC1 event for the first time in his career. David held the 'triple crown' of major tournament wins following his win at the World Championships in Liverpool 2018 until the World Championships in Rio 2022 where he claimed Silver. Smith is now the holder of three Paralympic Gold Medals, after winning at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, making him the most decorated British Boccia player in history and the first BC1 to defend a Paralympic title, He was selected to carry the GB flag in the Tokyo 2020 closing ceremony.
![]() Smith at heroes' parade in London | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | David John Smith | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | 2 March 1989 Eastleigh, Hampshire, England | (age 35)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | https://www.goherbalife.com/davidsmithobe/ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Country | ![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Boccia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Disability class | BC1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Swansea Boccia Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Early life and family
editHe was born at Southampton General Hospital, the son of Mary Windless (1952–present) and Clive Smith (1953–present). Smith was the first of two children; he was born two years before his sister Dawn. Smith was brought up in Eastleigh.
Education
editEarly years and Primary school
editSmith was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at one year of age and went to a developmental centre in Winchester for disabled children. At age three, he went to Cedar School, Southampton for special needs children. Smith first played boccia at age six at Cedar School when the school competed at the national junior games in Stoke Mandeville. Throwing sideways, Smith never really won a game and the sport took time to ignite his interest.
Secondary school
editAfter a long battle with the council, Smith's parents managed to get Smith a place at Treloar School. At age eleven, Smith changed schools and went to Treloar School in September 2000. Immediately Smith began to flourish, and he developed his talent for boccia, drumming, wheelchair hockey, wheelchair football and para-athletics. He became the youngest-ever player to win the British Boccia Championships at the age of fourteen and won numerous national titles in other sports. Smith was elected head boy in 2004 and managed the wheelchair hockey and football sessions.
College
editThe move to college was straightforward for Smith as it was the same organisation. Whilst at Treloar College, Smith attended Alton College to complete his A'levels in physics and maths. The demands of his, now international, boccia career meant that a lot of the hobbies he had at school had to be phased out.
University
editAfter the Beijing Paralympics, Smith went to Swansea University to study aerospace engineering. Due to Boccia, Smith took six years to complete his degree. However, Smith was able to set up a permanent base in Swansea with the sports support services and facilities necessary to remain successful.
International Boccia
editEarly career
editSmith joined the England and Wales squad in 2004 soon after his first British title. His international debut followed the same year. He attended the European Championships in 2005, his first Major ranking international. There he beat the world-ranked number 6 player 6–0 in a pool game and went to the quarter-finals. In the team event, he helped England secure a silver medal. He had a disappointing second major in 2006, this time representing Great Britain, where he finished 13th and the team received a bronze at the World Championships in Rio. In 2007, he became a double world champion at the age of 18. Smith competed in Beijing in 2008 but only managed 13th individually. The team did much better, achieving a Paralympic Gold.
Middle career
editAfter Beijing, Smith built up a friendship with Sarah Nolan who in 2010 became his coach. New management in the GB squad helped Smith untie the bad practices of the previous era and slowly the sport became professional. In 2009, Smith won his first Europeans to become a world-ranked number 1 for the first time. In 2010, Smith and the team lost in the quarter-finals to Tadtong of Thailand at the World Championships. Drastic changes were needed, and Sarah started reworking how Smith played the game to suit the new style of play from Asia. In 2011, Sarah became Smith's permanent on-court assistant. In 2012, Smith won two medals at the Paralympics for the first time.
In 2013, Claire Morrison became Smith's coach while Sarah remained his on-court assistant. Smith took over as team captain, and won double gold at the Europeans that year.
In 2014, Smith became world champion for a second time winning the final spectacularly 8–2.
In 2015, Smith captained the team to another European gold and the team gained an automatic slot for the Rio Paralympics.
In 2016, Smith claimed bronze at the World Individual Championships in Beijing having lost once in the pool stages and losing again to Tadtong.
In Rio, Smith recovered from the disappointment of team failure and the loss of a must-win pool game to beat his long-term Thailand rival for the first time. After 8 years, Smith became an Individual Paralympic champion.
Late career
editGlynn Tromans took over coaching after Rio and Smith won the European championships for the third time, remaining undefeated during the whole 2017 season. In 2018, Smith reclaimed his World title at the World Championships in Liverpool completing the "Triple Crown" by being the reigning Paralympic, European and World champion.
In 2019, Smith defended his European title, automatically qualifying for Tokyo in the process.
Restart
editSmith's first competitive competition was the Paralympics in Tokyo. After suffering a few technical issues in the pool, Smith found his top form for the quarters, semis and final matches. Smith played live on C4 for the first time in front of millions of people to win the Gold and defend his title.
At the end of the year, Smith won his 7th European title in Seville.
Domestic Boccia
editSmith has remained unbeaten at the annual English Nationals and GB Championships since 2004 clocking up a record 20 British and 11 National titles. In 2016, Smith retired from the English nationals to focus on his international career.
Personal life
editSmith is currently based in Swansea where, after completing his degree studying aerospace engineering at Swansea University, he lives and trains full-time. He has a passion for aircraft, particularly World War II aircraft. Smith is a strong advocate of independent living for disabled people and a critic of successive government cuts to spending on social care. Smith can drive independently using his car, which is heavily adapted. He is a patron of his former school, Treloar's in Alton, and is an ambassador for the Saints Disabled Supporters' Association.[3] David was selected to go on Dreamflight in 2003 and since then has been a regular supporter and visitor to events in successive years. One of his hobbies is drumming, and he is a keen driver and advocate of the Motability scheme.[4]
Appearances
editDavid has made two appearances on The Last Leg where he has performed his trademark "doughnut" in his wheelchair.
Honours and awards
editSmith was given the Freedom of the Borough of Eastleigh in 2013. [5]
He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours[6] and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours,[7][8] both for services to boccia.
References
edit- ^ "IPC bio". Archived from the original on 8 November 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ^ "GB boccia team clinch Bronze medal". BBC Sport. 5 September 2012. Archived from the original on 5 September 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
- ^ "David Smith OBE". Saints DSA. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
- ^ "Channel 4 Profile". Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ^ "Eastleigh Borough Council". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
- ^ "New Years Honours List 2017" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 December 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
- ^ "No. 63571". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 2022. p. N15.
- ^ "New Year Honours 2022: Jason Kenny receives a knighthood and Laura Kenny made a dame". BBC Sport. 31 December 2021.
External links
edit- David Smith at the British Paralympic Association
- David Smith at the International Paralympic Committee
- David Smith at IPC.InfostradaSports.com (archived)