Heath Francis

Who is Heath Francis?

Heath Wesley Francis, OAM born 16 November 1981 in Newcastle, New South Wales is an Australian athlete who has participated in the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Summer Paralympics. His right arm was amputated at the age of seven as a result of a mincing accident on his family farm in Booral, New South Wales. At the 2008 Beijing Paralympics he became the first arm amputee athlete to win the sprint treble (100m, 200m and 400m events) at a Paralympics, a feat he accomplished 2 years earlier at the 2006 IPC World Championships. He competes in the T46 classification for arm amputees, where he is the current 200m (21.74s) & 400m (47.63s) World Record holder. Both World Record times were run at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

In 2000, his competitive sport participation was sponsored by the New South Wales WorkCover.

He received a Medal of The Order of Australia for his 2000 gold medals. He also received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000 and a Centenary Medal in 2001. He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder from 2003 to 2010 and was coached by Irina Dvoskina.