For Gerrard Gosens, athletics is a team sport

In athletics, blind runners are physically connected to their sighted guide for all races, from sprints to the marathon. Not only must the athlete and their guide be matched in terms of performance, they also have to be able to get along. It means that individual events become events for a two person team. Gerrard Gosens and his guide runner, Bill Hunter, competed in the T11 5000m, 10000m and marathon at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics – a gruelling schedule. Gosens finished 6th in each of the two track events and 8th in the marathon. Off the track, Gosens was the executive officer of the Queensland Paralympic Committee. He later went on to compete with some success in the TV show ‘Dancing with the Stars’.