Evan O'Hanlon

Evan George O'Hanlon, (born 4 May 1988) is an Australian Paralympic athlete, who competes mainly in category T38 sprint events. He has won five gold medals at two Paralympic Games – 2008 Beijing and 2012 London. He also represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, winning a silver medal and a bronze medal respectively. In winning the bronze medal in the Men's 100m T38 at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, O'Hanlon became Australia's most successful male athlete with a disability. His bronze medal took him to 12 medals in five world championships – one more than four-time Paralympian Neil Fuller.

Personal O'Hanlon was born on 4 May 1988 in Sydney, New South Wales. He is tall and weighs . He has cerebral palsy due to a prenatal stroke. He attended St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill. He has five sisters, one of whom, Elsa, rowed for Australia's national team and won the World University lightweight sculling Championship in Trakai, Lithuania in 2006.

His father, Terry O'Hanlon, is a former Australian representative rowing coxswain, a six time Australian champion who represented twice at World Rowing Championships. His mother Jane, also represented Australia as a member of a national rowing squad.

Competitive athletics

O'Hanlon mainly competes in category T38 sprint events. Before the start of his last year of high school, he competed only against able bodied athletes. In December, he moved to Canberra and started training full-time with Irina Dvoskina at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) from 2005 to 2016. Aged 19, his records made him the fastest male cerebral palsy competitor in the world. At the IPC Athletics World Championships in 2006, he competed in the T38 100 m, but did not finish; finished third in the T38 200 m event; and won two gold medals in the 4x100 m relay and 4x400 m relay events. At the Australian Championships, he finished first in the T38 100 m and T38 200 m events in 2006, 2007 and 2008. a silver medal in the 400 m event, and a bronze in the 4x100 m relay event. He finished fourth in the men's long jump event. His two gold medals at the event counted for half the total men's Australian gold medal count.

At the 2012 London Games, O'Hanlon repeated his Beijing success in winning the Men's 100 m and 200 m T38 events.

Competing at the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon, France, O'Hanlon won gold medals in the Men's 100 m, 200 m and 400 m T38 events.

O'Hanlon competed at the Championships just weeks after being hospitalised with viral meningitis.

At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, O'Hanlon won the silver medal in the Men's 100 m T38 in a time of 10.98. He announced his retirement immediately after the event for personal reasons.

At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, O'Hanlon qualified for the final by coming second in his heat of the 100m T38. He went on to win the bronze medal.

O'Hanlon repeated his 2018 Commonwealth Games success by winning the 100 m T37/38 at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in a Games Record. Competing at his sixth World Championships, he finished in eighth place in the 100m T38 at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris with a time of 11.41 (-0.2) just weeks after sustaining a hamstring tear in training.

He announced his retirement on 6 November 2023.

Other sports O'Hanlon has participated in rugby union. His involvement as a player ended because of repeated injuries.

Recognition O'Hanlon was AIS Junior Athlete of the Year in 2008, and was also named Athletics Australia's 2008 Athlete of the Year – Male AWD. Cleo magazine named him as a finalist in its 2008 Bachelor of the Year contest. In 2011, he received a Sport Achievement Award from the Australian Institute of Sport. O'Hanlon was a finalist for the 2012 Australian Paralympian of the Year. In November 2013, he was named Athletics Australia Male Para-Athlete of the Year. In 2014, he was inducted into the Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre Path of Champions. Inaugural inductee to University of Canberra Sport Walk of Fame in 2022.