Chris Bond

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

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 these 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 USA, 59-58, in a double-overtime thriller at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

The Steelers’ overwhelming odds-on favouritism to defend their world title at the 2018 IWRF Wheelchair Rugby World Championship took a hit in 2018, and despite an unbeaten run to the gold medal match, Japan proved too strong for the reigning world champions. Returning from a five-try deficit in the third and fourth quarters, the Steelers made an uncharacteristic and decisive error with 90 seconds to play to bring an end to their six-year reign at major tournaments.

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.