Rob Matthews
Blind Paralympian who won eight golds for Great Britain
ROB MATTHEWS, who has died from a brain tumour aged 56, was a blind middle and longdistance runner who defied his disability to win eight gold medals for Britain in seven Paralympic Games and break 22 world records; in 1986 he became the first blind runner to run the 800m in under two minutes.
He was born in Strood, Kent, on May 26 1961 with a degenerative eye condition, retinitis pigmentosa, inherited from his father. As a child he could not see in poor light, though the condition only started to affect him badly when he was 11.
At 13 he was sent to a school for the partially sighted; at 15 he learnt Braille, and a year later he started at a college for the blind. “In my mind’s eye I can still see everything,” he wrote in a 2009 memoir, Running Blind. “Most of all, I remember clearly the face of a frightened 15-year-old staring back at me in the mirror. This is the last image I have of myself.” By 18 he had virtually no sight.
After qualifying as a Braille typist he began to lead an independent life. When loneliness got to him, he started looking for a sport he could try, and found his niche on the athletics track.
Matthews first competed at the Paralympics in 1984 at the Stoke Mandeville/new York Games, winning gold in the 800m, 1,500m, and 5,000m events. He retained all three titles in Seoul four years later.
In Barcelona in 1992 he again won the 5,000m, taking silver in the 800m and bronze in the 1,500m. He took silver in the 1,500m in Atlanta in 1996, and in Sydney in 2000 he took gold in the 10,000m, coming from behind in the final leg, and silvers in the 5,000m and the marathon.
As a blind runner, Matthews employed the services of running guides – sighted runners linked to him by a short rope. Over the years he employed more than 100 guides – of variable quality: “The worst was a guy in England who was too hesitant and in the space of 100m I fell off a kerb, hit a lamp post and bounced off a fence. I didn’t run with him again”.
In 1987 Matthews became the first Paralympian to be appointed MBE, and in 1993 he moved to Leamington to work for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. The following year he married his first wife, Kath.
In November 2003, however, as he was training for the 2004 Athens games, Kath died, aged 38, from a brain aneurysm. He was devastated but found that running helped him to cope. He dedicated his performance at the games to Kath, but sadly won no medals and decided to retire from the running track.
Eighteen months after her death, on holiday in New Zealand he met Sarah Kerr, an interior designer from Auckland. Four months later he moved to New Zealand, where they married and had two children.
He became a sports massage therapist and motivational speaker and changed sports to cycling, representing New Zealand in international tandem cycling and triathlons, winning a silver medal at the 2009 World Paralympic Triathlon Championships in Australia. He had been hoping to compete at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. It was not to be, though he was listed as one of eight “iconic athletes” in the official guide to the games.
Rob Matthews is survived by his wife and by their son and daughter.
Rob Matthews, born May 26 1961, died April 11 2018