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Brantford resident Bill Morgan sees Rio as step to Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games

11 August 2007
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (August 11, 2007) – The boys from Brantford, Ontario are in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for a real fight.
 
Alexander Milo Radoman, 18, and William Morgan, 32, are judo competitors at the 2007 Parapanamerican Games, running from August 12-19.
 
The athletes with a visual impairment are accompanied by their coach Tom Thomson, also of Brantford, who operates out of the Brantford Judo Club.
 
A veteran of two Paralympic Games, Morgan hopes to add some qualification points in Rio and earn a ticket to the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Summer Games.
 
“Bill will medal here and gain a berth for Beijing, where I believe he will medal again,” says Thomson. “That has been his goal – and as a result my goal – for seventeen years.”
 
At the Athens Paralympic Games, Morgan placed fifth and at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, he was seventh. More recently, he won bronze at the 2006 IBSA World Championships in France.
 
“I hope to win a medal here along with getting extra points and hopefully secure a spot for Canada in Beijing,” states Morgan. “I know my competition and I have a legitimate chance at a Parapanamerican Games medal. I won’t say any particular medal.”
 
For newcomer Radoman, the Rio Games are an opportunity to gain some experience and work on “making the transition over to judo from wrestling.”
 
“They both train alongside sighted judo combatants, but I give instruction differently because they can’t see each of the techniques. The instruction is more tactile,” says Thomson.
 
Morgan is a teaching assistant at the W. Ross Macdonald School for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Brantford, and Radoman is a student there.
 
Radoman is in the men’s up to 81 kg category, and Morgan in the up to 100 kg. Radoman competes on August 17 and Morgan on August 18.
 
Morgan and Radoman are two of 92 Canadian athletes competing in Rio in athletics, wheelchair basketball, judo, seven-a-side football, table tennis, sitting volleyball, powerlifting and swimming.

 

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