Ian Sharpe

Ian is a visually-impaired Paralympic medallist, who has competed for Great Britain as an elite athlete since 1984. He was born in the Isle of Man and grew up in Ramsey. He was soon spotted by the GB swim team and joining the development programme in 1983. Ian has competed in 5 Paralympic games, 4 world championships and numerous European championships. He has won 5 silver and 5 bronze Paralympic medals and was 4 times World Champion in 1990 as a swimmer becoming a double world and European champion as a cyclist in 2005. To have achieved so much having lost your sight is incredible. He demonstrates motivation, commitment and dedication and a real passion for success. He has competed in 3 World Island Games competing against able bodied athletes and holds the GB national record not just for disability riders. Ian has a young family but has worked extremely hard to maintain his condition and is increasing his training with the aim of adding the missing medal to his collection the `Paralympics Gold`. Ian has been involved a lot with blind welfare on the Island. In one instance he helped a young Manx student, Juan Gregor, who recently lost his sight and was worried if he could cope with going away to University. Ian helped him sort through the issues that it may present and as a result he felt a lot better about it. He also worked with Manx Blind Welfare Society to sort out IT help for the talking newspaper.