Philip Craven


Sir Philip Craven is an English sports administrator, former Paralympic wheelchair basketball player, swimmer and track and field athlete. Between 2001 and 2017 he was the second president of the International Paralympic Committee.

Early life and education

Craven was born on 4 July 1951 in Bolton, England. He was educated at Bolton School Boys' Division, where he was a keen swimmer, cricketer and tennis player. In 1966, at the age of 16, he fell during a rock-climbing expedition at Wilton Quarries, Bolton. The accident left him without the use of his legs. He studied geography at the University of Manchester, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1972.

Athlete

Craven represented Great Britain in wheelchair basketball at five editions of the Paralympic Games, from 1972 to 1988. He also competed in track and field athletics and swimming at the 1972 Games.
He won gold at the wheelchair basketball World Championships in 1973, and bronze in 1975, as well as two gold medals and a silver at the European Championships. He also won gold at the European Champions Cup in 1994, and gold at the 1970 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games.

Results at the Paralympic Games

GamesEventsResultRank
1972Athletics: Men's 100m 29.1 s.24
1972Athletics: Men's slalom 75.4 s.24
1972Swimming: Men's 50m breaststroke 59.45 s.6
did not advance
1972Men's wheelchair basketballGroup A: lost to Argentina 48:56, won vs Sweden 44:38, won vs Netherlands 39:31, won vs Italy 40:17
Semi-final: lost to USA 36:52
Bronze medal match: lost to Argentina 39:54		4
1976Men's wheelchair basketballGroup C: lost to Argentina 48:52, won vs West Germany 33:28, tied vs Spain 38:38, won vs Denmark 74:22
Quarter-final: lost to Israel 26:60		no rank
1980Men's wheelchair basketballGroup D: lost to France 36:63, lost to Sweden 43:71, won vs Egypt 122:24
Second round: lost to W. Germany 44:56, won vs Australia 62:33, won vs Denmark 66:44
Semi-final for 9th place: lost to Belgium 23:63
Final for 11th place: lost to Spain 54:66		12
1984Men's wheelchair basketballGroup C: won vs France 48:47, won vs Australia 62:42, lost to Japan 52:62, won vs Egypt 108:13
Quarter-final: lost to USA 40:78		no rank
1988Men's wheelchair basketballGroup A: lost to USA 38:52, lost to Sweden 39:42, won vs Brazil 61:21
Quarter-final for 9th place: won vs S. Korea 60:30
Semi-final for 9th place: lost to Australia 29:40
Final for 11th place: won vs Spain 40:34		11

Sports administrator

In 1980, alongside Horst Strohkendl and Stan Labanowich, Craven played a vital role in the development of a new classification system for wheelchair basketball athletes. Wheelchair basketball rejected its medically based classification system consisting of 3 classes, a system that was founded upon principles that forced athletes to depend on medical examinations. This progress led to a new 4-class functional system, which was democratically voted in 1982. Due to this, wheelchair basketball was increasingly associated with sport as opposed to medicine and rehabilitation, although both still play an important secondary role.
In 1988, Craven was elected Chairman of the Wheelchair Basketball Section of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation, the first athlete to lead the sport worldwide. Craven's striving for self-determination and self-government pave the way for the establishment of wheelchair basketball as an independent federation, when it gave up its previous identification as a basketball section of the ISMGF to become the independent, self-governing International Wheelchair Basketball Federation in 1993. At the First IWBF Official World Congress 1994 in Edmonton, Alberta, Philip Craven was elected the first President of IWBF, holding the office until 1998. A productive and more formalised working relationship with FIBA, the worldwide governing body for the sport of basketball, was arranged under Craven's administration, to further legitimise wheelchair basketball itself.

Notable achievements as sports administrator

Craven was elected as the second President of the International Paralympic Committee in 2001. He oversaw 8 Paralympic games with his first being Salt Lake City in 2002 and his last being in Rio de Janeiro. Craven became the first president to have the Paralympics games to be hosted in his home country in the UK in 2012.
On 7 August 2016, Craven announced that the International Paralympic Committee would ban Russia from participating in the 2016 Paralympic Games for allegedly violating international doping rules. This followed WADA's June 2016 report with accusations of state-sponsored doping in Russia.
Craven put the blame for the ban on Russia's government, stating that Russia has "catastrophically failed its para athletes," adding, "their medals-over-morals mentality disgusts me." Russia's appeal to the CAS against the ban was rejected, a decision that prompted President Vladimir Putin's public accusations against the international bodies responsible for imposing the ban.

Other activities

Craven served as Company Secretary at the British Coal Corporation from 1986 up to 1991.
He is an Ambassador for Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organisation, committed to serving peace in the world through sport.
In 1991 he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for services to wheelchair basketball. And then in June 2005 Craven was Knighted by the Queen this time for services to Paralympic Sport.
In 2017, Craven was awarded the Paralympic Order.