Chris Bond

International wheelchair rugby star Chris Bond was 19-years-old when he was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia. After contracting a severe bowel infection during treatment causing gangrene, doctors were forced to amputate his legs below the knee, left hand and right fingers.

It did not take Chris long to get involved in Para-sport, and at the suggestion of Brad Dubberley, a two-time Paralympian and the head coach of the Australian wheelchair rugby team, the Steelers, he began competing in wheelchair rugby.

In 2011 he made his international debut at the Great Britain Cup in Cardiff, Wales; setting the tone for the next seven years of Chris’ career, the Steelers achieved a six-game clean sweep over Great Britain, Japan, Belgium and Sweden to win gold.

After helping lead the Steelers to their first Paralympic gold medal in 2012, Chris further proved himself among the best 3.5 players in the world when he combined with bash brother Ryley Batt to score 64 of the Steelers’ 67 goals against Canada in the gold medal match at the 2014 IWRF Wheelchair Rugby World Championship in Odense, Denmark to win the Australian team’s first ever World crown.

Following this series of stunning victories, the Steelers then became the first team in wheelchair rugby history to win consecutive Paralympic gold medals and a World Championship title in a four-year period, defeating their perennial rivals, the United States, 59-58 in a double-overtime thriller at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Although their overwhelming odds-on favouritism to defend their World title in Sydney in August took a hit in 2018 with minor placings at the Wheelchair Rugby Quad Nations in Leicester, England and Canada Cup in Vancouver, Canada, the Steelers are confident they can still deliver their first major win on home soil.

For inspiration, Chris looks to his parents and partner, wheelchair basketball player Bridie Kean. In his spare time he enjoys fishing, camping and ocean swimming.