Tristan Knowles

Tristan Malcolm Knowles, OAM (born 25 April 1983) is an Australian wheelchair basketball player and won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics and silver medals at the 2004 Athens and 2012 London Paralympics. He was a member of the Roller at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, his sixth Games.

Personal Knowles was born on 25 April 1983 in Wodonga, Victoria. He became an above the knee amputee as a result of cancer.

State team Knowles played for the New South Wales U21 state team in the national competition. The state U21 team won the national championships four years in a row with Knowles as the captain. He was also part of the gold medal-winning Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics he was part of the Australian men's wheelchair team that won silver. In 2016, he was selected for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, his fourth games, where his team, The Rollers, finished sixth.

At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, the Rollers finished fifth with a win–loss record of 4–4. At the 2024 Paris Paralympics, he was a member of the Rollers that finished fifth with a win/loss record of 3-3.

World Championships Knowles was part of the 2006 national squad that finished third at the World Championships. He was a member of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team that won the gold medal at the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship and 2014 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships. In 2018, he was a member of the Rollers that won the bronze medal at 2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Hamburg, Germany.

Club basketball Knowles has played professional wheelchair basketball in Australia, Spain and Italy. When playing for the Roller Hawks, he wears the number 9. In the first game of the 2011 season against the Perth Wheelcats, he scored 44 points. His team went on to beat the Perth Wheelcats in the 2011 NWBL Championship. In the finals game, he scored 48 points.

In 2010, Knowles was playing club basketball with Valladolid in Spain. He was the team's season MVP in 2011.

Recognition In 2002, Knowles was named the New South Wales Wheelchair Basketballer of the Year. In 2004, Knowles and Brendan Dowler received the Illawarra Mercury Sports Star of the Year Award.