Stephen Miller

Stephen James Miller MBE (born 27 May 1980) is a British athlete who competes in the fields of Paralympic club and discus throwing. He has won three gold, one silver, and one bronze medal in the F32/51 club throw at the Paralympics. In Paralympic F32/51 discus he won one bronze medal.

Personal life

Stephen Miller was born 26 May 1980, in Cramlington, Northumberland. He started participating in athletics at the age of 11. He joined an after-school club, where he met Paralympian Norman Burns. Burns would later become his coach.

He married Rachel Toland in August 2013. He was able to walk down the aisle with her since he had hip replacement surgery the previous October, which he had delayed until after the 2012 London Paralympics.

He worked part-time as a web developer at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead. He currently lives in his hometown of Cramlington. At the age of 16 he became Great Britain's youngest Paralympian or Olympian track and field competitors to win a gold medal.

2000 Paralympics

He won gold in the club throw at the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney.

At the 2000 Games he originally placed fourth in discus with a throw of 14.99 metres. His team lodged a complaint against gold-medal winner Robert Jachimowicz, saying his disability status was improperly classified. Jachimowicz was disqualified, and Miller advanced to the bronze medal position.

2004 Paralympics

Miller competed in the F32/51 club throw at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens. He won the event with a world-record breaking throw of 33.53 metres, beating the record set in 2000 by over seven metres. All six of his attempts would have been long enough to secure the gold medal.

Miller won several medals at the Cerebral Palsy World Championships in 2005, including gold in the F32 club and gold in the F32 discus. He won his third consecutive gold medal for club throwing at the World Championships in 2006. Miller had won gold in the club throw in the previous three Paralympic Games. Despite throwing for a personal best of 34.37 metres, he lost to new world-record holder Mourad Idoudi of Tunisia. Miller had owned that record since 1997. He finished the event with a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing.

2012 Paralympics

He was selected as captain of the men's athletics squad for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics. He had hip problems that required surgery to fix, and doctors thought he would take about a year to recover. He did not want to miss his home Paralympic Games in London so he competed through the pain.

2016 Paralympics

Miller won a silver medal at the 2014 European Championships. Initially his mother, who is also his coach, did not have enough funds to travel to the Games. Former Newcastle United owner John Hall donated money to allow her to attend the event. There were ten competitors in the F32 club throw, but four failed to show up to the event prior to the start time. He earned a bronze medal with a season-best throw of 31.58 metres.

He also won a bronze medal at the IPC World Championships in 2017 and a silver medal at the European Championships in 2018. He was not selected for the event.

Retirement In June 2024, Miller announced he would be retiring at the end of that year's season having not made an international appearance since finishing fourth at European Championships three years earlier.

Awards and honours Miller was awarded the Freedom of Gateshead on 25 June 2013. He was awarded the Freedom of Gateshead. He was awarded the Freedom of Cramlington on 7 February 2014.

Miller was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to sport.