Matt Byrne

Matthew "Matt" Byrne (born 8 October 1974) is a British wheelchair basketball player. He participated at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens where he finished in third position. At the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, Byrne finished in bronze medal position with Great Britain. He played for United Kingdom at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.

Personal life Byrne was born in 1974 in Nottingham. He is a paraplegic, meaning that he has an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. He was introduced into wheelchair basketball during his rehabilitation at a hospital following a motocross accident at the age of fifteen. He is also married to Anna Byrne who is a teacher at The Long Eaton School.

Wheelchair basketball

Byrne first played wheelchair basketball in 1991, and joined the Sheffield Steelers club for five years before moving to the Nottingham Jaguars, near where he was born. His current club, the Wolverhampton Rhinos (RGK TCAT Rhinos), have won the Super League many times during his time there. He made his début for the Great Britain national team in 2001. The team finished in fourth place after losing to Canada and the United States. In 2012, Byrne was made co-captain of the Great Britain Men's Wheelchair Basketball team.