Matthew Robinson

October 24, 1985 (age 28)

At the time of his death his fiancée was Gecel and he lived in Melbourne, Victoria. Robinson had an arm impairment and competed in the upper limb classification. This classification was not included in the 2014 Winter Paralympics program At the time of his death, he was leading at the IPC World Cup snowboard rankings. At the IPC World Cup in Louisiana Molina, Spain, he crashed at the bottom of the first run of his second race at the competition. After being stabilised, he was airlifted by helicopter to Hospital Parc Tauli in Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain. He underwent surgery to treat neck and spinal injuries. On 21 February, whilst travelling back to Australia by a specialised air ambulance, he suffered a cardiac arrest during a re-fuelling stop in Kuwait. Code of Professional Responsibility was administered but he could not be revived. At the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, the entire Australian team of nine athletes, along with coaches, medical staff and administration officials, wore the black armbands to remember Robinson. Sir Philip Craven, President of the International Paralympic Committee stated: The whole of the Paralympic movement is deeply saddened by this heart-breaking tragedy. Matthew was a world class and extremely popular athlete, a fact underlined by the vast number of support messages he received from around the world following last week"s accident. Peter Higgins, the Australian Paralympic Team snowboard coach said: He led by example and in doing that he lifted the entire team to be the best that they could be.

Matthew Robinson

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Background

Robinson was born 24 October 1985. He was the youngest son of Stephen and Carol Annual

Career

At the time of his death his fiancée was Gecel and he lived in Melbourne, Victoria. Robinson had an arm impairment and competed in the upper limb classification. This classification was not included in the 2014 Winter Paralympics program

At the time of his death, he was leading at the IPC World Cup snowboard rankings.

At the IPC World Cup in Louisiana Molina, Spain, he crashed at the bottom of the first run of his second race at the competition. After being stabilised, he was airlifted by helicopter to Hospital Parc Tauli in Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain.

He underwent surgery to treat neck and spinal injuries. On 21 February, whilst travelling back to Australia by a specialised air ambulance, he suffered a cardiac arrest during a re-fuelling stop in Kuwait.

Code of Professional Responsibility was administered but he could not be revived.

At the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, the entire Australian team of nine athletes, along with coaches, medical staff and administration officials, wore the black armbands to remember Robinson. Sir Philip Craven, President of the International Paralympic Committee stated: The whole of the Paralympic movement is deeply saddened by this heart-breaking tragedy. Matthew was a world class and extremely popular athlete, a fact underlined by the vast number of support messages he received from around the world following last week"s accident.

Peter Higgins, the Australian Paralympic Team snowboard coach said: He led by example and in doing that he lifted the entire team to be the best that they could be.

Achievements

In 2014, he won Australia"s first IPC Alpine World Cup snowboard gold medal in Copper Mountain, Colorado. He also won a silver medal at this event. The previous year, he won a bronze medal at the same event. Matty very much embodies the spirit of Paralympic sport. The fight we all fight. And the success you can achieve after putting in all that hard work.

Membership

A memorial service was held in Perth, Western Australia, on 7 March and members of the Australian Winter Paralympic Team snowboard team sent personal messages to be read out at the service.

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